Momma House Finch isn't Nesting Tonite! (2 Viewers)

[loveallcreatures]

Hi, so glad to see this forum! I have a question, I'm concerned because I have a nest with several house finch nestlings who are about 4 days old. The parents were feeding them all day--but tonight the mother is not sitting on them---first time this has happened. Will they survive the night without the mother's heat? The temp of their location will be from 58 to 60 degrees. Have you heard of a house finch mother not nesting new nestlings at night? So I got concerned (worried sick might be more honest)! Have you seen this? Should I be concerned? She has been on the nest every night, but tonight a no show. Thanks for reading this and any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

[fugl]

According to BNA-online, the female broods continuously for 3 to 8 days, depending on local conditions. So, it looks like your birds might be OK, the nights being short and 58-60 F not being that low a temperature.

 

[loveallcreatures]

Looked it up on "NestWatch" site, it said under brooding "Songbirds and most seabirds have altricial young, meaning that the newly hatched birds are blind, featherless, and helpless. Immediately after hatching, altricial birds can do little more than open their mouths to beg for food. They remain in the nest where the parents can feed and protect them while they continue to develop. For the first week of life, most altricial birds cannot control their own body temperature and must be constantly brooded (kept warm) by their parents."
There was big drama around the nest today. Another house finch couple nested in the same spot about 6 weeks ago, and lost their hatchlings when a bluejay (scrubjay) ate them. The first pair spotted the new nest today, and tried to build their own nest next to this nest--BADLY disrupting the feeding by these parents--it was a constant chasing off by both pairs. I have had house finches nest in this spot for decades, and have never seen the nest unattended when they are nestlings of this age.
NestWatch shows the incubation period as 13-14 days, and an additional 12-19 days brooding time. They've been brooded only 3-4 days, far short of the 12-19 days--so I am worried. I'm cold in the house now, and they are a few ounces of featherless skin, outside. I didn't find that NestWatch site until you said "brooding" so I googled that word. I spent 2 hours googling before finding this site, and got no info about brooding times in all my searches.
I hope you're right fugl--thanks for the post. BNA says 3-8 days, other site says 12-19 days, I wonder why such a big discrepancy? I want to go place some fluffy something on the nestlings to keep them warm--but I'll try to let nature take its course.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Are you still seeing the female, I assume she's feeding them?

Our Pied Flycatchers have just abandoned 8 eggs for reasons unknown though predation of the female is a possible cause.

Andy

 

[fugl]

Looked it up on "NestWatch" site, it said under brooding "Songbirds and most seabirds have altricial young, meaning that the newly hatched birds are blind, featherless, and helpless. Immediately after hatching, altricial birds can do little more than open their mouths to beg for food. They remain in the nest where the parents can feed and protect them while they continue to develop. For the first week of life, most altricial birds cannot control their own body temperature and must be constantly brooded (kept warm) by their parents."
There was big drama around the nest today. Another house finch couple nested in the same spot about 6 weeks ago, and lost their hatchlings when a bluejay (scrubjay) ate them. The first pair spotted the new nest today, and tried to build their own nest next to this nest--BADLY disrupting the feeding by these parents--it was a constant chasing off by both pairs. I have had house finches nest in this spot for decades, and have never seen the nest unattended when they are nestlings of this age.
NestWatch shows the incubation period as 13-14 days, and an additional 12-19 days brooding time. They've been brooded only 3-4 days, far short of the 12-19 days--so I am worried. I'm cold in the house now, and they are a few ounces of featherless skin, outside. I didn't find that NestWatch site until you said "brooding" so I googled that word. I spent 2 hours googling before finding this site, and got no info about brooding times in all my searches.
I hope you're right fugl--thanks for the post. BNA says 3-8 days, other site says 12-19 days, I wonder why such a big discrepancy? I want to go place some fluffy something on the nestlings to keep them warm--but I'll try to let nature take its course.

Brooded or not, the nestlings made it through the night, so that's good news. Regarding the "discrepancy", the BNA reference was to "continuous" brooding; occasional brooding can occur for much longer than that, on cold nights say or during the day when conditions turn sour. BNA-online, btw, is the online version of the Handbook of North American Birds, a most authoritative source (it's subscription only unfortunately, so I can't give you a link).

House Finches attempt to nest on my porch every year but never successfully. Scrub-jays are the likely culprit I think though I've never caught them in the act.

 

[loveallcreatures]

They did make it through the night

Hi, the nestlings did make it through the night! When I posted the original post, it was 1:30 ish a.m. I'm 3 hours earlier on the west coast. The parents have been feeding them nicely today. Last night I stood on a short ladder and took some pictures and they have feathers so that was a relief.

Andy, sorry about your missing mamma bird. I hope she will return. Will you intervene if she doesn't? I have to grow a thicker skin because I try to save most everything.

fugl, same here, they nest on my front porch--9 years with the prior owner, several decades with me. The scrub-jay could have never seen the nest-it's well hidden. I have a vindictive neighbor who baited that scrub-jay to their nesting location. Last year I saw it eating a few eggs, it returned often to eat the nest contents-almost slammed into the living room window once. I read that they never forget a good meal and will return every year. Sure enough this year it returned and ate some nestlings, 6 weeks ago. I saw it both times. I tried to make the area more secure by putting up some fine wire "cloth"--adding a circular opening to allow the house finch to fit, but too small for the scrub-jay. I didn't finish it in time before this nest was built, so I'm constantly watching for the jay...The wire is partially up, but not enough--will add some staples to attach the wire higher up tonight. The finches may not like a wire covered ledge cubby to build their nest-restricts light and visibility for them to see.
Neighbor has been throwing meat onto the driveway--I guess to attract the jay. One year he put ants into the nest, they killed all the late stage fledglings--I was heart-broken. I wondered why they were flinching constantly-wish I'd checked it out up close when I saw something unusual in their behavior. I saw momma bird try to eat the ants--she kept diving her beak into the nest--still it didn't register to me as ants.

Is there any safe mite killer I can put under the nest--just a dab of something, or a sprinkle of Sevin 5% powder UNDER the nest?? These house finch nests are covered in mites.

Any my cockatiel has bad mites--does anyone know a safe product to use on a cockatiel for mites?

Sorry for rambling, thanks for the inut. Much appreciated.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Andy, sorry about your missing mamma bird. I hope she will return. Will you intervene if she doesn't? I have to grow a thicker skin because I try to save most everything.

The eggs are cold, no way to know how long since she sat so I'm afraid it's over for this year as Pied Flycatcher usually only has one brood.


Andy