Congrats! I know there were some unsure moments. Little birdy prayers that they make it to the skies!

That is great news. Let's hope everything stays safe in there. Where did you get that mirror you use? It seems to work so well. I have a dental mirror and it drives me crazy b/c I can't see well with it.
Cathy

Cathy - hubby got the mirror from Sears - hardware/tools section. He says you should be able to find similar in other hardware/tool places like Harbor Freight Tools (if you have those up there) or car places like Auto Zone... We had a smaller one but couldn't see much of anything with this nest being so high and deep.

Apparently there are still just 2 babies. We're hoping the 3rd will make an appearance but if not, we're glad to have this pair and we too are hoping they'll stay safe. Mom and Dad seem pretty vigilant...

FABULOUS hatching photo Bridget! Would you consider letting me post it on my website? (www.sialis.org). I've been doing series on nests, eggs and young to help people with ID, and don't have ANY of very young Great Crested Flycatchers. See link below. If so, please email me a high res version to ebluebird @ charter.net (without spaces). Thanks for considering my request!

Here is a link that might be useful: GCFL nests, eggs, young

Sure....
Which pic would you like me to send? The 3rd one seems clearest to me.
Let me know.

Thanks so much Bridget, your babies are online now, along with some fabulous photos taken by a friend in Fl.

Bet

We've been trying to get some pics of our little ones but it's proved to be quite difficult. They hide way down in the nest keeping super still under all those feathers. We managed to get a couple - here's the latest @ 10 days old....(these pics aren't the greatest)

As you can see --- it's a mass of feathers (the ones Mama put in there and the babies') ... it's hard to tell which end is which... but you can just make out an eye peeking just left of the egg. We had thought Mama had either removed the 3rd egg or it had dropped down inside the nest --but it 'reappeared' the other day so I guess they had been lying on it.

Mama and Papa have been ultra busy feeding....

Papa seems to have some trouble getting inside the box and tends to stick his head in the opening hoping the little ones will take what he has - which wasn't happening being as they were so young and all....seems like he's having more success now. Mama just dives right in there. Here's Mama with supper.... (bit fuzzy - sorry)

We think it's a flying grasshopper -- HUGE!!

Well-- we have decided not to look inside the box anymore as it's getting close to fledging. We're hoping to start seeing little beaks appearing at the hole soon to take what's being offered. Hopefully we can get some decent pics then!

As for our Blues.... they have 4 eggs and we're on day 9 of incubation... : )

Congrats your so lucky and I'm envious. I wish a pair would pick one of my nestboxes.

Bridget This is wonderful news and thanks for the pics. I am really enjoying them. What ever happened to the ones in the satellite box or was it the same pair playing games with you?
Cathy

Renee,
We certainly feel lucky. We had never expected this - didn't know a whole lot about flycatchers and rarely saw them around. Literally one day they were here and we were looking them up in the book to find out more about them, the next they were building a nest~~ !!

Cathy,
We really don't know what was going on!! We do know there are possibly about 6 or so flycatchers close by. We hear them calling from various different spots etc.
Shortly after the satellite nest was built the weather turned very windy and rainy. We spotted a large piece of plastic hanging out of the nest blowing in the wind and wonder if maybe it just wasn't a suitable spot in the end, maybe not good drainage and too open at the front?!
Pic isn't the greatest again but you can see the dish, and the open cone/cover where they were building. You might be able to make out the piece of white plastic at the bottom of the cone/cover blowing out to the left... (smack dab in the middle of the pic)

Once the pair 'returned' to our box we concentrated mainly on that but have occasionally seen flycatchers near the satellite. Doesn't seem like there's too much activity there though. I'll try to pay more attention in the following days and see if there's another pair still using it.

About the satellite nest- we saw a flycatcher there a couple of times today. Unfortunately we also saw a large crow (maybe raven) peeking in there - we clapped and shouted while (we assume) Mama flycatcher and a Mockingbird dive bombed it. We don't know if this was 'our' flycatcher as the babies fledged to that area/tree earlier today or whether it was another flycatcher - i.e. the builder of the satellite nest??

We'll keep checking because if there is a viable nest with eggs in there they should be due to fledge any day.

Cathy,

We are sure there is a second nest now. There is a pair of flycatchers hanging out both at the satellite and the tree next to it. As we mentioned the other day they saw off a large crow/raven who was peering inside. Today we have seen both Mama and Papa going in there with bugs. They've spent the majority of the day sitting in the tree calling, we assume to the babies to try to entice them out of there. It's been stormy on and off and we didn't see any leave but of course they may have.

So, we figure our pair built their nest then took 'a few days off' before coming back to lay their eggs. Guess we learned something this year and hopefully if they come back next year we'll have a better understanding and won't 'fret' as much (yeah right!).

Since ours fledged we haven't seen them in the garden - not even a glimpse of the babies. In fact, the garden has been quiet all round other than a dove here and there and those dratted crows/ravens. Ho hum.

Bridget I wasn't on b/c we had bad storms with 70 mile an hour winds and we lost electricity for 6 whole days. Gees! How wonderful that you have 2 GCFC nests!!!!!!!!!!!! Hope all goes well with the second pair too! You know you'll fret as much or probably more next year. I always do. I usually don't see my blues much the first week after fledging. After that I usually see the fledglings around but I feed them. Mine are on their second nest here and my trail up the road has 2 pair of blues that are still on their first nesting. I don't think you'll see the FC's much after fledging unless you go looking for them. I wonder if they would eat meal worms. If they did you'd get a glimpse of them.
Continued success for you and your birds,
Cathy

Wow Cathy, it sounds like you've had a rough ride to put it mildly. Hope all is well with you and yours.

Re FCs and meal worms, they didn't bother with them at all... would have been nice but there you go. Our first brood of Blues was here for quite a while but they're all gone now. Still summer isn't over, who knows what else it will bring.

All the best to you and your broods too...