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Prothonotary Warbler (TX2)

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This was Heard's second recorded nest attempt by a Prothonotary Warbler!
Species: Prothonotary Warbler (Protonotaria citrea)
Location: McKinney, TX
Status: Four birds fledged on July 3rd! 


Cam Highlights:






July 3 - FLEDGE DAY! The nestlings are 12 days old and ready to fledge! One, by one, each hops up to the entrance hole and takes its first flight.


Immediately after fledging, the parents will divide up the brood and take care of different young for the next few weeks.




Good luck little warblers!

July 2 - One of the nestlings looks up at the camera giving us a rare look at the pale yellowish face and breast.

July 2 - At just ten days old, the nestlings are about 75% of adult size, but can manage short flights of 5-10 meters.

July 1 - The male peeks in through the entrance hole just as one of the nestlings is excreting a fecal sac.

June 30 - The nestlings are now 8 days old. Prothonotary Warbler nestlings typically fledge between 10 and 12 days.

June 29 - Here we see the adult removing a fecal sac. One study showed that adults carried fecal sacs an average of 40 m from the nest, and that they typically dropped them over water.

June 28 - The olive green feathers begin to emerge by day six and the nestlings can also make soft "tschip" vocalizations when begging for food.

June 27 - At 5 days of age the nestlings' eyes finally open. They also become mobile at this age and can now move around the nest.

June 26 - The male Prothonotary Warbler returns to the nest box with what appears to be a moth for its young.

June 25 - Since the eggs have hatched, both of the adults have devoted the majority of their time to feeding their young.

June 24 - It appears that the fifth egg is still in the nest, and will not hatch. 

June 23 - With the female inside the box, the male returns to the nest with a food offering for the hungry nestlings.

June 22 - HATCH DAY! We had a hard time choosing between the many interesting images from today, so we have included several as an overview of the fascinating events of hatch day.

A few days earlier than expected, the first egg hatches.

Shortly after the first hatch, the male appears with food.

The female is helping the next chick out of its shell. 

The second egg hatches and the females eats the eggshell.

The male returns with more food for the two hatchlings.

The third egg hatches and is also consumed by the female.

The three nestlings huddle next to the two eggs.

By the following morning, the fourth egg has also hatched.


June 21 - It is still unclear whether the female deliberately or accidentally pushed the egg out of the nest cup. Given that the egg was not incubated for at least ten hours, however, it may not hatch.

June 20 - We were pleasantly surprised to hear from our Prothonotary Warbler cam hosts who told us that another nesting attempt was in progress.

June 20 - The female is rotating the eggs here, but curiously, she seems to deliberately move one of the eggs out of the nest cup. All subsequent images show no attempt on her part to put the egg back in the cup.


June 20 - The exact first egg data is not known, but the cam hosts said the eggs are at least one week into incubation.