For the past week I have been happily watching three little phoebes growing
up in their nest on the garage light. Yesterday evening I went outside and
saw two little bodies on the driveway. One of the dead birds
was partially eaten. The third was not visible in the nest.
They were just getting their breast and wing feathers and looked about 2/3
of adult size.

I assume something came along and attacked them. I don't think it would
be possible for a raccoon or a snake to get to them from the garage roof--
they were under a soffit and a land predator would have to have hung
from the drainpipe to reach them. Is it likely that a hawk or maybe a crow
flew up to the nest and wreaked havoc?

This may be coincidental, but yesterday I found at the far end of the driveway
a feather about 2" long and an inch wide, half of it downy, half of 
it white with
brown blotches.


--Pat

Pat Valdata, Elkton, MD | 
"The natural function of the wing is to soar upwards
and carry that which is heavy up to the place where dwells the race of gods.
More than any other thing that pertains to the body
it partakes of the nature of the divine." --Plato