Interspecific Nest

I discovered a nest on the a beam of my sister's porch. Because a Carolina Wren flew away when I first found it, I assumed it was a Carolina Wren nest. However, while watching from a distance in my hammock, I noticed that both a pair of Carolina Wrens and a pair of Eastern Phoebes were bring food to the nest and removing fecal sacs.

I decided to get a closer look. The nest indeed had at least 3 Carolina Wren chicks, looking developed enough to be fledging soon by my guess. The base of the nest did look very much like a phoebe nest, with the "hood" characteristic of a wren nest.

I decided to set up a game camera on the beam facing the nest. I kept a close eye on the nest, because I did not want the presence of the camera to prevent the parents (both biological and adopted) from feeding the chicks. The first wren came and fed the chicks with no concern for the camera. Next came one of the phoebes, who reacted much more to the camera. It called his/her mate, and both phoebes scolded the camera. Next came another wren and upon seeing the phoebes scolding the camera, also called his/her mate. With all four parents scolding the camera, I quickly removed it, so as to not stress them any further.

So...I am assuming that a pair of Carolina Wrens built their nest on top of a Eastern Phoebe nest. I am very curious as to how the nest construction and incubation was carried out, but I suppose I may never know.

Posted on Ιούνιος 28, 2017 0357 ΜΜ by swampster