Jeri-- You have the Western Blue bird dont you?? I must admit that I so love the color of this bird; I actually began creating a habitat that was favorable to them. I also love the coloring on these sparrows. It appears he has found his partner too. He gave her a choice this morning and she picked out the ever popular East facing cubby. He is on top of the house, female peeking out. For those of you placing bird houses in the South: I have found that the birds tend to select houses that face morning sun. The sun is perfect for warming the nest in morning while mom and dad search for breakfast. The Western sun is much too hot and would over heat the enclosed nest if the box is facing to the West.

Atta Girl, Molie! Thelma and Louise are on the road to winging away. Here's a site below that shows the stages they go through. When I raised Monarchs, holy cow, nearly every morning I searched for milkweed leaves then after a month, there were darkened chrysalises every morning which meant somebody was getting their wings within a few hours. It was a job, but they all made it. Not a Black Swallowtail, but a newly hatched Monarch on a silk flower with his chrysalis underneath him. (He was named Moses) Well worth the care to watch this magical event. So glad you planted parsley. I plant it in with geraniums. It works. Looking forward to more pictures of T&L. Jane Here is a link that might be useful: pbase.com

Tara, sounds like it is going well. Congrats on the five baby blues. I think it is so cool that you have an in-box camera to watch them. I bought one this year, but too late to install it. I also have learned so much from the wonderful, experienced people on this forum.

I am just guessing here but they may have fledged- a few questions here- how did they look in appearance? Were they all covered in feathers that look like they may be able to climb/hop onto shrubs for cover? Or were they very small and helpless looking? The noise you heard was probably them responding to the parents' calls to leave the nest. (Parents usually do that from a distance to get them to leave the nest.)I'm thinking that they're long gone with the parents. Fledglings usually leave the nest/area as quickly as possible and find cover elsewhere where the parents feed them until they're able to fend for themselves. Hope this helps. Nerry