Hello all!
A few weeks ago, a purple finch built her nest in a hanging plant pot on my porch and laid six eggs. Exactly one week ago, the babies hatched. I've been keeping an eye on them from my kitchen window, and as of two days ago, there were five healthy looking little guys in there. Yesterday when I came home from work in the afternoon, they were all gone - the nest is completely empty. I am reasonably sure they were not anywhere near old enough to fly out on their own, so I have a feeling that something horrible happened to them, but there was no evidence of that either - I feel like if a larger bird had gotten them, the plant pot or the nest itself would be disturbed, and there would be some detritus on the porch, maybe even blood or something. But they're just gone - completely gone. The nest looks perfect, the plant pot isn't disturbed, it's like they all just flew away, but two days ago their eyes weren't even open and they definitely didn't have flight feathers. I'm attaching a picture from a few days ago.
Does anyone have any ideas of where they might be/what might have happened to them? Thanks!
A few weeks ago, a purple finch built her nest in a hanging plant pot on my porch and laid six eggs. Exactly one week ago, the babies hatched. I've been keeping an eye on them from my kitchen window, and as of two days ago, there were five healthy looking little guys in there. Yesterday when I came home from work in the afternoon, they were all gone - the nest is completely empty. I am reasonably sure they were not anywhere near old enough to fly out on their own, so I have a feeling that something horrible happened to them, but there was no evidence of that either - I feel like if a larger bird had gotten them, the plant pot or the nest itself would be disturbed, and there would be some detritus on the porch, maybe even blood or something. But they're just gone - completely gone. The nest looks perfect, the plant pot isn't disturbed, it's like they all just flew away, but two days ago their eyes weren't even open and they definitely didn't have flight feathers. I'm attaching a picture from a few days ago.
Does anyone have any ideas of where they might be/what might have happened to them? Thanks!