Secretive Phoebes

Earlier this spring we had a pair of eastern phoebes show up. Nothing unusual.  They are early spring arrivals and don't stick around.  But these did.  Mrs and I assumed that they were building a nest somewhere in the area, close to the barn.  I checked every place I thought they might build a nest, but could never find anything.

As time went on, the phoebes were very busy and were often around the barn making these sweet little "peep" vocalizations.  Ok.  They have to be raising young somewhere.

It was not until I read this post and then this post over at The New Sixty that I figured it out!  I had seen the phoebes chasing the barn swallows from the barn, but it never clicked.  With this new information, I had guessed what I had overlooked.  The phoebes had built a new nest on top of an old swallow nest on a light fixture in the barn.  I missed the entire incubation period and by the time I found the nest, which had been just over my head the whole time, the young were already well developed.

I took this picture about a week before they fledged.

Thank you, Patti, for opening my eyes to what was going on in my own barn.  I'm fairly certain it's time for me to slow down a little bit and take in what is going on around me.  I'm just pleased I was able to see the young ones before they left.  As of Tuesday morning, they were gone.

A side note to this... I am pleased as punch to have the phoebes.  I had watched two families grow and fledge at the old kennel building in 2009 & 2010 and asked numerous times to make sure the barn was torn down before the phoebes returned.  I was sick to think that they showed up and found there usual nest site completely gone, and am so thrilled to have had a pair nest successfully here instead.