Underestimated

I snuck out onto the porch to take some pictures of the quickly-growing Bill, Peeper and Cheep Cheep. I don't want to miss too much of their development! I snap, snap, snap away, slowing my shutter speed. "Wait..." I say after the first few pictures. I zoom up on my image.

Is that a fourth beak??? Snap, snap, snap a few more pictures at a lower shutter speed and higher ISO. I want detail in these chickies and as much color and light as I can get in their dark little cave. Hold the phone! Are there FIVE chicks in there???

Hmmm... zoom, zoom, zoom... Holy cow! I have highly underestimated my wren-chees! FIVE chicks. A typical clutch is 4, but my little ones have been working overtime. Now we have to come up with two more names! And I'm trying to imagine how they are all going to fit in there for another 7 days. According to my research, their eyes open on the 3rd day after hatching. That would make them having hatched on the 10th. Today will be day 7, and the average nesting period is 14 days. So on the 24th we should have five little fledglings. We have two young Mourning Doves (Pink Legs and Blue Bill) that fledged this spring and like our back deck and garden very much. Now we will have five little Carolina Wrens to add to the fun.

Intermission

We will now pause for a brief intermission from our camping trip posts to introduce you to:

Bill (short for Yellow Bill - he's the one on the left), Peeper (middle back), and Cheep Cheep (right front, obviously). They were named , respectfully, by Bella, Kane and Max (although Max is fickle, and just told me his bird is named Clack Clack...). Yes, our three Carolina Wren eggs have turned into three Carolina Wren chicks. They are either 2 or 3 days old (we were out of town for photo shoots on Tuesday and Wednesday). We look forward to sharing them with you as they grow!