Schrödinger’s Thrashers
I’ve been keeping a close eye on this Brown Thrasher nest at work outside one of our windows, the parents made their nest right after the bushes got scalped which is why the nest is so exposed. I’m only here three days a week and I first saw them out of their eggs Saturday May 16th, but the earliest they could have hatched is Thursday the fourteenth since I wasn’t there to see it.
I got to work today and the nest is empty. No signs of a struggle, the nest looks the same as it was yesterday, just with no babies in it. I looked around the area and didn’t find any feathers big or small. I’ve never seen a snake around here, it’s close to one of our entrances. The only suspect I’m aware of is a cat who’s been roaming the area, but if he got to them I would think the nest would be disturbed or something.
I did some quick research that told me the babies leave the nest a lot quicker than some other birds as a survival mechanism. Yesterday the babies had their eyes open and they were starting to hobble around in the nest a bit.
All that to ask, are my babies alive? I can’t tell if they left early cause the nest was so exposed, or if something unfortunate did indeed happen. Based on the picture, would they even be able to survive out of the nest at this point?