Do fledglings know which gourd is theirs to return to at night?

[dcronwell]

I have enjoyed watching about half of this year's babies already out and about after fledging and am looking forward to the rest leaving nests in the next week or two. This evening while relaxing on the back porch, however, I watched several ASY males abuse or chase or even wrestle fledglings to the ground when they tried to return to gourds for the night. Saw feathers fly and had to pick one newby fledgling up off the ground and onto a platform so that he could rest and then take off. Do the youngsters not know which gourd and parents are theirs? Is the rough treatment of even the youngest fledglings by ASYs the norm? Are the adults only chasing away someone else's young? I don't remember such rough treatment of fledglings in the past at my colony. I remember parents and young returning together to gourds for the night with little to no friction. I have only one pair of SYs this year and they have what will be the last five babies for this year since they started nesting at least two weeks behind the other birds. It was male ASYs doing the roughhousing and not SYs.

Any knowledge that can be shared? Do I just need to pay less attention so that I don't have such anxiety over what I have been seeing today?

And, a related question: I have seen over the last few days fledglings "fight" each other in flight in short bursts. Sibling rivalry? Attempts to steal a food item in flight? Simply practice for taking evasive action or learning maneuverability for capturing food in flight? Any thoughts on this observation?

Thx

[John Miller]

In my observations, the fledglings indeed know which gourd they fledged from, at least the first few nights of returning. As they gain independence over a few days, they may choose other cavities. As for fighting amongst themselves, probably fledglings that have been out for a few days as well; may even be from different clutches. And yes, so we don't get too stressed, I sometimes advise doing best we can and even walking away from time to time.

[C.C.Martins]

They are learning lessons, its rough but necessary. Dont look. Theres a point i don't watch either. Seems like the subbies are bent on driving them away, other adults bent on guarding their own homes and two or 3 clutches of fledges trying to return all at once. Its a mess.
Perhaps, just perhaps what you are seeing in the air is an adult feeding their chicks on the fly. Iv seen it a few times.

[dcronwell]

I have seen adults feed fledglings on the wing and a few days ago saw an adult drop a big dragonfly for another bird (couldn't confirm, but probably a fledgling) to grab out of the air. The fledglings I have seen fussing at each other while flying were fledglings. This evening was much calmer than yesterday. I'll get over it...

Thanks for the replies.

[Dave Reynolds]

,, My colony first got started with only one pair. With 16 gourds on that rack, I didn't think the babies could fine the gourd that they were hatched in. But sure enough, every night the babies came back to the same gourd to spend the night. After about 8 days, they started sleeping in other gourds on the rack, I think it was getting to crowded for all of them in there at once. So they started moving to other gourds. Finilly after returning for 11 or 12 night, they moved on South..

Dave