Dave you post the most magnificent pictures! I just love Pete sitting in the shade. When I grow up I wanna be like you!!! LOL I just love the Gemini...I think Im going to SP my Kordes Perfecta and put Gemini there. That darn Kordes is forever with BS and infects everyone down the line! I get it covered spray my butt off and then she gets it again. SIGH! Angela

Donna, the funny thing is the parents never took the babies to the woods like last year. They have been in my yard the whole time only hidden in the trees. I have heard the babies since they fledged. They are now starting to come to the deck. They haven't figured out where the mealworms come from yet, but I'm sure they will :) Karen

My female is sooo focused! First nesting fledged (6) on Thursday May 10th, I got the nestbox cleaned out asap because I know this female is very quick to start the second nesting (she is the same female we had the last two years). She started the second nest on Friday and laid the first egg this morning! I couldn't believe only four days inbetween fledging and laying another egg! Dad is still busy feeding the fledglings which are in our woods, haven't seen any of them yet, hopefully by this coming weekend I will get some glimpses of them and maybe tell how many made it. Two were non flyers so I am not sure about those two, especially with the mom focused on the second nesting and not on her fledglings. Donna

Congrats, and break out the candy cigars! Sometimes they remove unhatched eggs, sometimes not. I like to wait at least 3 extra days to see if it will hatch, but after that, a nestling would be so far behind the others, it would not likely be able to compete and would not survive anyway. You don't have to remove unhatched eggs, but usually I do. They are SO fragile, though, it must be done very carefully. You don't want to crush it and soil the nest, which would surely attract ants and other problems. You can use a spoon; I have a nice plastic one that came with MiracleGro that has 2 ends, one end is very deep and holds the egg nicely so it won't roll out. BlueBars