If you remember, last Thursday I posted about the family of cardinals that were using my willow as their home. It's hard to believe but, as of this evening, only one little guy is left and I have a feeling that he'll be gone in the morning. Here is a pictorial journey of my little birdies (I encourage you to click on the photos for greater detail.) Enjoy!.JPG)
At first, I thought that I saw 2 birds, then I thought that there were as many as five! But, finally I saw that there were 3 little birdies in this seemingly tiny nest.
Mom and Dad take turns throughout the day feeding their little ones. They will eat insects, buds, seeds, and fruits.
Here is Dad, guarding the nest. It was so interesting to watch how the parents would hop from branch to branch moving towards the babies and a chirping that would grow ever louder.
"Hey, where's our lunch?"
Here's the older of the 3 making his way towards the edge of the nest.
"Hello World!"
"Just the Two of Us"
"All By Myself"Well, I hope you've enjoyed the pictures and learning a bit about these pretty little songbirds. If you're interested in learning a little bit more and even hearing the lovely song these birds make, check out this link.
Everyone should be so lucky because this has been a highlight of my summer garden, 2008!
*Update. It was awfully quiet this morning so I thought the last little birdie had gone too. Unfortunately, he's lying in the nest and I think he died sometime earlier. He seemed so healthy last night that I just can't imagine what may have happened. The father came by a little while ago and just sat on a branch underneath the nest. You may think I'm silly but I cried because it was just so sad to see that little bird all alone. I know it's nature but still, poor little thing.
17 comments:
You were so blessed with this! I don't think many people are able to witness this because cardinals are so elusive when they nest, unlike robins, for instance.
I've never seen baby cardinals before. I'm glad you posted the picks. It's amazing how fast they grow.
I know! They were so sweet and I'm so sad the youngest one didn't make it out of the nest. I can't imagine what happened and am still quite sad about it.
What an amazing things to have been able to see! I too would have cried.
Nature can be cruel sometimes.
Manuela, I'm tearing up and it wasn't even 'my' bird. That's very sad for the poor little bird.
Awww, that's sad. It reminds me of some birds that laid eggs in a coffee cup I had on a window sill when I was doing a room addition. I took a picture of them. We had a really bad storm one day and I didn't see Mom come back for a couple of days so was afraid the babies would die. My husband and I started hand feeding the baby birds and they died a couple days later. The saddest part is mom did come back a few days later and she flew around that room in and out frantically looking for her babies. I cried like a baby. :( Sorry for the little birdy. Nature sometimes sucks.
it IS nature.
and Id SO cry as well.
Poor little cardinal family! I got sad just reading about the last little one. :-(
What a fun experience you had, though. I'm so glad you shared the babies with us. I wonder if they'll come back and nest in the same spot again next year?
Thanks for sharing the pictures. We had a raccoon in our attic and it gave birth to two babies. The motherleft and we patch up the roof's hole, not yet knowing there were babies up there. The mother back and franctically tried to get back in. We went up, found the babies and put them outside but the didn't make it through the night. I know raccoons are considered a pest, but I was very sad. I understand you being sad about the baby bird...
Ooooh, that is so sad. I feel like crying now too! My hubby & I are animal freaks. We have a lot of ducks in our lake & they always have babies that we feed. One day we even stayed out there protecting them from a predator bird that was trying to capture one of the ducklings... they were safe!
Those pics are so amazing though!! Thanks for sharing!!
Oh my goodness. I would cry, too. :o( It's funny how easy it is to become attached to wildlife we can't even have physical contact with. I'm so sorry.
Beyond that sad event, the photos are lovely. Thanks so much for sharing them with us! Love that tree, too. Gorgeous foliage.
We had a nest in our pavilion that we watched for weeks too! It was a robin with 3 little ones. They got so big so fast! And then one day there was only one left. And the next day he was gone too. It's amazing to watch the cycle of life thruogh nature, isn't it?
It's too bad about your little cardinal. What eventualy happened? Did you remove it from the nest or did the papa?
Thanks for sharing. That was really i ntersting. I would cry too. Hope you are doing well..you "sound" great!
I had birds out side my classroom all spring ... you should have seen the high school kids enjoy watching them grow up and fly off!
I would have cried, too. I was going to share a sad little birdie story but the comments are sad enough already. It was amazing that you could witness cardinals nesting, though. I don't know if I've ever seen a cardinal, except in pictures.
You got such great pictures of them and I'm very much like you, I get very attached to baby birds:-) How sad the third one didn't survive but at least the other two did and hopefully will thrive. I've got baby Blue Jays that just left the nest and the parents swoop down at you if you even try to get close! xoxo
Poor little birdy. We had a robin's nest at our place. I think there were 4 babies but didn't want to get too close because Mama and Papa bird were very protective. The babies have all flown the coop but they left one little blue egg behind that never hatched. Oh, the circle of life ...
Love your cardinal journey. On a farm, birth and death is part of every day life. We cry over hand reared lambs that then don't make it. It's all to the good though. It makes us aware of our own mortality, and in the end easyer to cut the ties that bind.
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