The House Sparrow chicks started hatching sometime after lunchtime today. By mid afternoon three of the chicks had hatched and the female could be seen feeding the tiny young ones and also brooding them to keep them warm. Keep watching to see if any more hatch.
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- Starting to hatch – 16th May
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- Brooding the chicks
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- Three chicks – 21st May
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- Two chicks, 1 week old – 23rd May
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- Little and Large – 26th May
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- Wings developing – 27th May
Last time we had sparrows nesting, the chicks did not survive, let’s hope this brood are more successful. With a bit of luck, we might see the chicks fledge by the end of term.
We watched the fifth chick hatch this morning with the help of the female. She removed the remaining shell from the chick’s body, ate some and then took the rest out of the box to dispose of. This chick is already smaller than its slightly older siblings, I wonder whether it can compete for food.
I can see three chicks in the nest now. Only the female seems to be feeding and brooding the chicks, I wonder if the male passes her food from the outside. We shall have to check from the playground.
We looked at the live feed and this is what we saw:
The little chicks opened their mouths.
We saw 3 baby chicks hatch.
I saw a big feather.
We saw the chicks move and the mum came back.
I saw the mum feed the chicks.
Two chicks have died.
They are cute.
They open their mouths when they get excited.
Some of us thought they looked fluffy.
The mother bird gives them food and worms.
The beaks are pointy.
Lovley to see the chicks.
It’s a very warm day outside today (23degC) and one of the three chicks has made a break for it to the front of the box. This is not a safe place for small chicks to hang out since they are in danger of being in reach of predators. The female sparrow completely ignores this chick when feeding the others, perhaps in an attempt to encourage it back to the well of the nest.
The birds will certainly appreciate the water put out by Class 1 yesterday, although the chicks will have to rely on any moisture contained in the live feed which they may be fed.
Looks like the hot weather has taken its toll on our birds because we are down to two chicks today. The female has been in and out of the nest box more often today but there’s still no sign of the male.
They look a bit bigger. Hope they don’t mind the sunshine too much. It’s very hot today.
One of the chicks is slightly more developed than the other and your can really start to see feathers growing on its wings. Both chicks have their eyes open.
It looks like the little bird at the front has glasses when his eye’s are closed.
They do have rather bulgy eyes don’t they!
Was just admiring your birdcam – how cute are those chicks? I am looking forward to that happening in our bird box!
At least you’ve given a bird a home for the night. Wessington school only had a roosting blue tit last year but this year they have seven blue tit chicks nearly ready to fledge.
At science club we took a few photos where we thought necessary
We’ve got two sparrow chicks, they are really cute. They are much bigger now and have feathers on their wings. The little one jumped up at the hole wanting food. It then had a fight with the other chick. We recorded it so we can put it on the blog and gallery.
I love to see the beutiful chicks
I saw your nest. Have you seen any birdsin it.
Yes, but only in one of our boxes. Our colourcam box only has spiders but our B&W box had a family of house sparrows in it.
I saw a sparrow sitting on our fence and I followed him under the trees
and he has had some babys with the lady sparrow.
One of the chicks is still much bigger than the other but the smallest now has a covering of feathers. Sometimes you could mistake the bigger chick for the female because it has similar markings i.e a pale stripe above the eye.
The female still seems to be the chicks’ sole carer, feeding them during the day and brooding them at night.
It is now 17 days after the first chicks hatched (16 since the last) and the two surviving sparrow chicks don’t appear to be too interested in leaving their comfortable abode! Most Internet sources cite that house sparrow chicks fledge from 11-16 days after hatching, so ours are beginning to get a bit late! One chick is much smaller than the other, so it could be a slightly younger one. Perhaps they are not getting fed quite as much as they would if the male had helped to feed them.
Both chicks have been fed at the hole but I haven’t seen them perched in it yet.