On Sunday while in the kitchen, I heard a persistent chirping noise in the back yard. I looked outside a few times, but didn’t see anything. Eventually, I noticed a little black phoebe fledgling sitting on the grill calling to be fed. I managed to get a few shots through the sliding glass door, but it was partially obscured by the grill. While I was shooting, I noticed it open its mouth real wide and was make extra noise. I got a shot of the open mouth (see picture on right), but missed what happened next. One of the parents swooped in, jammed some food in the mouth and flew off again. It happened so fast. I saw the feeding a couple more times, but never did manage to get a photo. Eventually the phoebe flew to the back fence and kept calling. After another food exchange, the fledgling followed the parent out of view. I have seen the fledgling a couple tims since then. It seems to be doing well.

In the mean time, the San Jose City Hall peregrines are growing rapidly. They are starting to hop around a bit, and one has even ventured outside the nest box. I believe they will be banded for identification purposes on Friday. Maybe I’ll go downtown to watch. You can’t really see the banding from the ground, but you can see the parents swooping and calling to scare away the intruder. It should be interesting.