Hard day to be a bird

I was going to get an updated picture of the baby robins this morning for Wild Bird Wednesday.

But this time they really are gone. Here's the empty nest. Sometime between Monday afternoon and this morning (Wednesday), a predator got them. Mom went down fighting. I'll spare you the pictures that prove that.

I can't say who did it. I suspect raccoons. Batman, the feral cat, would also be a good candidate except that he is injured at the moment with a gimpy back leg and I can't see him climbing up to get them.


The exact same thing happened to another nest last spring in the mower shed. I was so hoping these guys would fare better. I put up not one, but two security lights, including those creepy blinking red ones on the outside of the shed. I probably should have put one inside the shed as well.

The mourning dove eggs are also gone.

 

Bird update

I'm afraid the little robins didn't make it. It wasn't a predator. Mom just didn't know what she was doing. That's my best guess. I hope my presence wasn't an influence. :(

I did see Mom sitting on the nestlings the first couple of days -- like they were still eggs. But I never saw either her or Dad bringing food to the nest. I never once heard the babies peeping. I think they just died. Mom and Dad are still around, so I'm hoping they try again -- but somewhere safer than by the open shed door.

As for the mourning doves, there is still hope, but I won't be following them.

After I discovered their nest and eggs, I looked up info on doves. It warned that doves are easily spooked into abandoning their nests, eggs, and even nestlings. So, I haven't gone back to peek in on them. I can see the location of the nest from the house, but it's so well buried in the vines that I can't see the nest or bird itself. Oh well, maybe I'll be able to tell what happens from a distance.

Right around the house we also have several pairs of cardinals, chipping sparrows (I think), and blue jays, as well as several other pairs of robins. It's a busy spring!

Meanwhile, behind the old milk house....

...a mourning dove nest.