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.

 

Birdbrain

Um...birdbrain...that would be me. Where is my fact checker?

A fact checker would have seen this lovely, hardworking, worm-bearing mama robin.
















Yep, that's right, the baby robins are alive and well.  They are just very, very quiet.

!

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.

Nekkid birds

Brand new baby robins.

Awfully hard to get a picture with angry mama dive bombing my head. ;)

The robins' story started here, and continued here, here, and here. By my count, mama started sitting on the nest last Thursday or Friday, which would make today incubation day 11 or 12.  Now the babies have another 14 or so days before they will fledge. Their big challenge will be to survive the raccoons and Batman. Batman especially is a pretty constant presence these days. I caught him in the shed just yesterday, but I can't tell if he's aware of the nest or not.

Fingers crossed for the little songbirds.















Linking to WBW

One more makes four

Three and counting

I love birds

Spring housing market shows signs of rebound

It must be spring - the robins are busy.  

The other day I spotted a robin flying in and out of the garage/hay shed.

In and out. In and out.

I went to explore and found this thrown together on a narrow ledge just inside the open doorway. 

 This struck me as a sub-optimal place to raise a family. A narrow, unprotected ledge next to an exposed doorway. A mess on the ground below for fledgings to get tangled in. Also a major raccoon, possum and feral cat highway. 

But nobody asked for my opinion. 

A few days later, I went back and saw the ledge was clear. Thought maybe mom and dad recognized their poor choice and took their efforts elsewhere. 

Then I saw robins flying in and out of the open doorway. 

In and out. In and out. 

Hmmm.

On a third peek, I noticed an extremely large pile of grass and twig debris on the floor below the empty ledge. Silly birds. Rookie builders apparently. 

I decided to offer them a hand. I nailed a hard piece of a plasticized packing material up against their ledge, to form a lip of sorts and help hold their efforts in place. 

I interrupted their work to do this. Somebody, mom or dad, sat on the tree in the driveway scolding me. 

Later, I went back to see if they had accepted the help or moved on to more private accommodations. They decided to stay. Determined little things. 

This morning I popped in to check their progress.

Nice job rookies!

I'm going to have to clean up the building site for them. 

ps. Annotated photograph idea totally ripped off from inspired by the7msnranch.com.