Editor's note: The following column has been edited to include the correct photo.
Last Sunday I wrote about the indigo bunting and showed an adult male.  Today I am showing the indigo bunting babies in their nest.
On June 8, when I took this photo, they were 10 days old.  Or were they?  A closer look reveals that one of the little birds is much smaller than the other two.  Let me explain.
The female bunting lays only one egg per day and in this case it looks like she waited a few days after laying the first two eggs before laying the third.  This would account for the first two hatching a few days before the third one, since incubation time would be the same for all three eggs.
Three days after taking the photo shown here, the two larger birds had fledged, leaving the smallest one alone in the nest.  It is possible that the parents will abandon the nest in favor of caring for the two that have left, tracking their whereabouts, catching insects for them and feeding them.  Possibly the female will remember to return to the nest with insects for the smaller baby.  The ways of nature are not easy to predict.
Through the Woods is a weekly nature photo column by Aaron Horrell. Find this column at semissourian.com to order a reprint of the photo. Find more work by Aaron at The Painted Wren Gallery.
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