Among Friends

[Bird mama]

Welcome friends old and new to the Bird's Nest for June 2022.  This is such an exciting time of the year in my back yard.  Everywhere I look I see new baby birds

I don't know what it going on with my sparrows who have traditionally used the two bird houses hanging from the soffit under the garage addition.  I had a male that basically wintered over in the newish white birdhouse when there was little insulation inside.  I believe he was the mate of the female who died inside with an unhatched egg late last summer.  Given she passed away, I had to clear the entire birdhouse.  I made sure bird nesting coconut fiber was available to him when the house was unfurnished.

I gave him some dryer lint from my whites (I used all free and clear and made sure that it was from loads of wash that didn't need clorox 2; I don't use fabric softener).  He went crazy for the lint and really furnished the white house this spring.  I thought he finally connected with a new mate when she started to visit the white house.  Somewhere along the lines she decided she wanted the brown bird house 'down the block' and they were going between houses without really 'accomplishing' much.

Usually I hear baby sparrow chirps around Mother's Day and I watch the babies fledge around Memorial Day - this year, I got nothing.

Here are baby pictures of the most common birds that visit my yard:

Here is a baby sparrow

My Poppi (RIP), Peewee (RIP) and Presto (still living) looked like this when they were babies.  The most nerve wracking thing about hand raising a new born sparrow (for me) was the feeding.  They can't see anything until day 5 and their little heads bob all over when they yodel for food.  The risk of aspirating is great if you don't have a steady hand.  

Until their beak develops and narrows - they can be the happiest bird on the planet and you'd never know it.  They look sober as a judge 

[Bird mama]

Baby starling

I love their wispy head feathers

I've never raised one of these from a baby however I did have one in the house for 2 days during a heat wave.  The baby was reunited with Mom and Dad in the backyard.

[Bird mama]

Baby Blue Jay

I used to have problems with Blue Jays.  The adults are excellent parents however they will kill a baby sparrow to feed their own kids.  The Blue Jays and I reached a compromise when I started feeding them peanuts.  I cannot tell a lie, for a while I wanted Blue Jays to leave my yard and never come back for like a year.

[Bird mama]

Baby Robin

[geezerette]

I hadn't thought about it, but now that you mention it, I haven't seen any baby birds this season yet.  Normally the cardinals would have brought their little ones to the feeder before I took it down for the summer.  This year, no babies even though I fed longer than I usually do.

[Bird mama]

Mary Kay @possummink added these

‎05-31-2022 11:33 PM

‎05-31-2022 11:55 PM

‎05-31-2022 11:56 PM

@viva923  updated us with this:

‎06-01-2022 10:39 AM

hey all

have eye check in half hour see all later

[Bird mama]

I was started to get a little squirrely.  Well, squirrelier than usual @geezerette 

I saw a male Robin feeding his baby near the pines on Memorial Day and then finally saw some Sparrows feeding their kids yesterday.

[mousiegirl]

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@Bird mama wrote:

Baby Blue Jay

I used to have problems with Blue Jays.  The adults are excellent parents however they will kill a baby sparrow to feed their own kids.  The Blue Jays and I reached a compromise when I started feeding them peanuts.  I cannot tell a lie, for a while I wanted Blue Jays to leave my yard and never come back for like a year.

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@Bird mama   When I recently heard the Scrub Jays, hadn't for a while, I knew they were back to get the baby birds under my deck roof eve. I had to rescue a baby Mourning Dove once, they got it;s sibling, so I got on a tall ladder and removed it from the hanging basket, took it to wildlife Rescue the next day.  It spend the night in a picnic basket next to the grow lights I used for seedlings.  We also have Stellar Jays, most other birds are brown, do have Robins.  

[geezerette]

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@Bird mama wrote:

Baby Blue Jay

I used to have problems with Blue Jays.  The adults are excellent parents however they will kill a baby sparrow to feed their own kids.  The Blue Jays and I reached a compromise when I started feeding them peanuts.  I cannot tell a lie, for a while I wanted Blue Jays to leave my yard and never come back for like a year.

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@Bird mama 

Bribery!  Works every time! 😂

[DSD2]

Your pictures are absolutely breathtaking.

Stunning, every single one.

Thank you for bringing nature so up close and personal. Beautiful!