For the past six years, I have had a pair of Eastern Phoebes that have built a nest under the eave of either the back or front porch in early April and raised two sets of hatchlings. The first three years, they built under the back porch on top of a brick column that had a fairly wide ledge where it was easy for them to build their nest. This is a photo of the first group of fledglings that first year that took their first flight from the nest to a Crepe Myrtle bush that was in my backyard.
For some reason, which I suspect was the presence of our dog in the back yard, two years ago, they decided to build under the front porch which has a very narrow ledge that is almost impossible to build on. They worked for about a week bringing materials each day to build their nest only to have it fall to the ground. Besides feeling sorry for them, I got tired of the mess it was creating on the porch, so I finally gave in and got a small piece of plywood about four inches wide and a
C-clamp and attached the plywood to the ledge where they were trying to build. At first they were't quite sure what to do, but the next day, they did begin to build a nest on the plywood, and within three or four days, completed it. Since that time, they have returned each April, and added to the nest and raised their young. This year's first group of young Phoebes hatched about two weeks ago, and will probably fledge sometime within the next couple of days. As usual, there are now four young birds sitting on a nest that is becoming more crowded each day. I took a couple of photos of them this morning to make sure I got them before they fly.
Once they do, they won't return, but their parents will to lay another set of eggs and hatch another group that will fledge the first couple of weeks in June.
Update: Little ones flew from the nest the day after I posted this.
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