Baby Birds!

[Guest]

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[voluptuary_manque]

We have beautiful trees in the backyard.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/Baby%20Birds/029c5d90.jpg

And

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/Baby%20Birds/2e7fb632.jpg


But does Momma Robin choose to build her nest in the trees?

Nope. She chose the corner of our house, under the eaves. It's actually a well-protected area, even though now we cannot use the spotlights in the backyard for awhile.

But now the birdlings have hatched! There are three of them, and they're hungry as tiny peeping wolves.

Every time the parents bring food they shove it into those gaping maws as fast as they can. We could never tell - were all three babies getting food? How can the birds tell which mouth got the food?

Mom on the nest -

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/Baby%20Birds/27071a84-1.jpg

Feeding -

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/Baby%20Birds/82574d1d-1.jpg

More Feeding -

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/Baby%20Birds/d9b867de-1.jpg

Hungry baby! Notice the eyes are still closed.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/Baby%20Birds/7bc06572-1.jpg

They're fun to watch but we're keeping careful distance. Mom doesn't appear to be too stressed about us, though. She's adjusted.

Robins are certainly hard-working birds - they never stopped the entire time we were outside today - nearly 3 hours of back and forth feeding.

Peep.

The babies are probably safer from cats, 'coons, snakes and owls under the eaves than they would be up in a tree. And baby songbirds . . . only a mommy bird could love 'em. Ugly? Phew!

Baby galliforms, now, are fluffy and cute.

 

[Guest]

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[rgraham666]

Sweet.

 

[Guest]

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[MagicaPractica]

*sigh* I found a swallow dead in my backroom Thursday when I got home. I think the cat brought it in when my brother was taking his stuff out and he didn't notice. It made me sad. I do love to watch them flying.

 

[Guest]

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[cloudy]

There's a mockingbird that hangs around our house. All you have to do is whistle a few notes, and s/he will sing them right back to you. Keeps me busy forever.

I'm so easily entertained.

 

[rgraham666]

I've got a momma raccoon around here somewhere.

Just heard her trilling to her kits outside my window.

 

[Guest]

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[starrkers]

I saw the swallows getting together, swooping and flying over the main street, about a week ago. They've gone now, heading north for the winter.

Oh well, they'll be back next spring, building mud nests under the shop awnings and pooping all over the pavement.

 

[R. Richard]

A few days ago I walked past a fance. On the fance were a raven and a much smaller bird. I though maybe the raven was pursuing the smaller bird. However, the raven flew off and the smaller bird harrassed the raven. Quickl, the smaller bird was joined by another, similar smaller bird. Together the two small birds chased the raven away.

It's a concluson, but the two small birds had to be defending a nest against the big raven. The raven wanted nothing to do with the two smaller birds.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I saw the swallows getting together, swooping and flying over the main street, about a week ago. They've gone now, heading north for the winter.

Oh well, they'll be back next spring, building mud nests under the shop awnings and pooping all over the pavement.

We had a mockingbird outside the girls' dormitory in college who would sing the first six notes to Beethoven's Sixth.

 

[feeeriek]

That's lovely, actually.

We have robins, pigeons, doves, bluejays, sparrows, many tiny birds, blackbirds, a pair of cardinals that have been coming back for a couple of years - the trees are filled with singing.

But they don't sing back to me.

they probably figure they couldn't do it as well...oh and why would the robins build in the trees when you have food so readily available...feee noticed

 

[Guest]

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[OzoneRed]

I have a cardinal that likes to perch in the lilac bush right outside my kitchen window. She'll see her reflection in the window, attack it, bang into the glass, fall to the ground, fly back up into the lilac bush, see her reflection in the window, attack it, bang into the glass....

Over and over again, until I turn on the kitchen light so she can't see her reflection anymore.

Stupid bird.

 

[shereads]

I hesitate to ask, but have the cats noticed the baby birds?

I took down my bird feeder and birdbath after the Katz family took up residence (too many feathers in the yard, minus their owners.) The absense of a feeder and bath haven't stopped birds from nesting in the oaks and avocados, though - and for the first time since I moved here, I find myself dreading the day fledgelings start hopping around the yard.

They won't stand a chance.

 

[shereads]

.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b318/sweetsubsarahh/Baby%20Birds/7bc06572-1.jpg

Gotta love that buzz-cut.

 

[Guest]

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[Guest]

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[voluptuary_manque]

The kind that hops around the yard asking "Does this tail make me look fat?"

 

[shereads]

There's a mockingbird that hangs around our house. All you have to do is whistle a few notes, and s/he will sing them right back to you. Keeps me busy forever.

I'm so easily entertained.

In the parking lot of my mom's doctor's office in Savannah, there's a mockingbird that imitates ambulence sirens. (The office is across the street from the entrance to ER.)

Why? What's in it for the bird? Is he hoping to attract an ambulence as a mate?

 

[shereads]

I've got a momma raccoon around here somewhere.

Just heard her trilling to her kits outside my window.

Careful, sweetie. Raccoons are cute and appealing and bold and their babies are downright irresistable - and in Florida, they're increasingly contaminated with rabies.

Also, a mother raccoon tried to steal my shoe while I was illegally feeding her brood at a local state park. Why she wanted the shoe is anyone's guess. It wasn't a particularly nice shoe. Maybe that's why she changed her mind and dropped it.

 

[Guest]

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[shereads]

But any outside cats - well - we'll just keep good thoughts for the birds.

Duct tape mittens?