Among Friends

[Bird mama]

Good Morning and Welcome Friends Old and New to the Bird's Nest for June.

Baby Sparrows

Baby Starlings

Baby Cardinals

Baby Mourning Doves

These are not my photos however they represent the baby bird activity in my yard these days.

I'm also seeing baby squirrels

This is an emotional time for as I watch over the little ones as they find their way in the world.  I also mourn the ones that didn't make it.

Last month I mentioned that I heard whispering chirps of newly hatched sparrows in the brown bird house.  I fought off a female bluejay who made runs at the house and when I saw continued activity from the sparrow parents over the next couple of days I thought I won.  By the 3rd or 4th day after I threw shoes at the female bluejay I noticed no activity in and around the brown birdhouse.  The entrance to the house is a tight fit even for the sparrow adults so I don't think the female bluejay got the babies.  I think the parents took a powder and hypothermia got the babies.

Then on Memorial Day I heard newly hatched baby voices in both the white birdhouse and brown birdhouse.  I was so excited.  That day the mom of the white birdhouse went to feed her hatchlings and I saw something fall out of the nest on the patio.  It was a tiny baby sparrow that was still alive so I crawled up a ladder and put the baby back in the birdhouse.  That's when I saw the other 2 babies who were significantly more developed than the baby who fell out.  I put a moving blanket (that you use when you U-haul some furniture) under the white birdhouse in case baby fell out again.

The little one didn't make it and Mom heaved it out of the birdhouse this morning.  Baby birds develop quickly and the little one looked the same as it did on Monday.  It was the runt and couldn't compete for food.  It's the nature of things and I'll never get used to it.  

Among the trees is a bird's nest,

and in the nest her three eggs rest,

and in each egg, Hush, you'll be heard!

There lies asleep A tiny bird.

Written by H.N. Bialik

[meallen616]

[piperbay]

@Bird mama  Thanks for posting such sweet pictures of these babies. I can't imagine

a morning without the sound of birds, even if means the robin singing at 4 am ! Lol.

[geezerette]

@Bird mama 

Yeah, nature can be cruel.  And it's hard to remember sometimes that that part is offset by its beauty. 😢

My first June baby wasn't a bird, but a baby deer.  The guys starting cutting my hay fields yesterday and needed to haul a big tree branch out of one field.  When they were moving it, they found a newborn fawn that mama had hidden in the tall grass.  They carried it nearby to a clump of big bushes and left it there.  I'm glad they found it before the mowers came through. 

As for baby birds, the only ones I have seen so far were the phoebes in the nest on my chimney.  There were four crammed into a tiny nest.  They all fledged the same day a few weeks ago and I haven't seen hide nor hair of mom, dad, or any of the kids since. 

[just bee]

[Bird mama]

@geezerette  I briefly thought about hand raising the little one when I picked it up and saw signs of life.  I've done it before with sparrows straight outta the egg in 2005.  I kind of had a feeling that the baby was not going to make it because of the sheer size of the other two and when I put the baby back in the house I whispered God, thy will be done.  

[possummink]

[possummink]

[possummink]

@Bird mama 

Bernie,  Thank you for our June perch.   It's really warm here, low 90ies and very dry.   Haven't had rain in about 2 weeks and it's really needed.  Strange weather patterns over this part of the country.  

[possummink]