Little house finched didn't make it.... (1 Viewer)

Little house finches didn't make it....

So we have a wreath on our front door, third year in a row where house finches nest. I build a sort of blind on the doors window so I can observe the whole thing through a small "peep" hole. It's very exciting and I have to say stressful worrying about their well being not that I have anything to do with it. The first year we thought they disappeared too early ?? They may have just fledged ? Last year was more complete as we watched them stretch their wings... But this year was a disaster. We had four chicks and got to see mom and pop come and go. I think it was just yesterday that we noticed one chick with a nasty looking eye. Weeks ago I did see a male finch at our feeder with some eye problems and I later learned that there is a disease. So later yesterday out of the blue there was just one chick left. I spotted what looked like a dead chick on the ground and before I could get out to look at it a Bluejay took it away. So we went to bed with one chick in the nest and needless to say this morning the nest is empty. Is there anything to understand ?? Were all the chicks sick ? We thought the mama spent a lot of time away from the nest but they were definitely being fed. I look forward to setting up this wreath but I think we are going to stop. We just get too invested. We have a great dog to love. We have feeders in our back window that are extremely busy and in another window enjoy hummingbirds.

Hi dwolf,

Sorry to hear about this, but it is not uncommon at all in nature. I suspect nest predation, possibly by the aforementioned Blue Jay or possibly another predator such as a crow. My guess is that the chick's eye disease was not directly related to its demise (if a predator took it), but I could be wrong.

Almost every year a crow comes by the spruce trees in our yard during the time that House Finches nest in the tops of the trees. I think the crows found chicks one year and have remembered to come back each year for more.

I do agree that watching nature can be much harder when you follow along and get attached to the birds. I find this happening to me sometimes, especially with the nestbox in my back yard.

Thanks for writing Birdmeister... I think of myself as Birdman of Plaza Ave. Love the movie.
It makes me wonder how any bird nests make it through. One would think these predator birds could easily find nests... just like they find our feeders.