Yesterday, We watched the louisiana waterthrush nest as the fledglings stepped out into the world. The parents spent a considerable period of time in the creek bed under the nest with food in their beaks, trying to coax the young out of the nest. Well, we watched one come out. He had a stub of a tail. The others (we could see two for sure) were reluctant to leave the nest yesterday. Today, one bird remained in the nest. Got to watch and video a "dirty diaper" being removed. Also, got to watch and video the nestling being fed. In a previous year, we watched five fledglings leave the nest on the same morning. Noticed the male tends to sing an abbreviated version of his song at this point in raising a family. One other observation: started looking for a woodpecker nest, because of a whirling call. Turned out to be a young and rather small raccoon holed up in a tree cavity. Flowers: fire pink and wild licorice and moonseed. Bob and Elaine McNulty ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]