23 days after spotting the first two eggs...

Gonna Fly Now

I don't know how I did it, but somehow I managed to get video of the first baby bird leaving the nest. It was Sunday June 21st.  Father's Day.  You can see in the video daddy bird stopping by the nest as the first baby bird is preparing to make the leap. Since it's a day or two before fledglings can fly competently, he stayed right there on the porch to offer support and assistance.  He's a good dad. There's actually something quite empowering from watching this little bird stretch its wings and build up the courage to undertake the insurmountable yet inevitable task of venturing out into the great unknown.  I can not even imagine what I could accomplish if I thought I had the power and strength  of this little bird. Enjoy!!

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Amidst all the excitement of the first bird leaving the nest, baby bird #2 sneaked out the back way.  

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The next morning there were only 3 birds left in the nest.

They really seemed to enjoy having a little more room to stretch out.  And one of them was getting its feathers ready to fly.

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I completely missed the launch of the 3rd baby bird mid day.  Only two birds remained.

Neither one of the remaining two seemed to be in any hurry to leave the nest.  One of them finally stepped up and started preparing to venture out.

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They Grow Up So Fast

It only takes about 10 days or so from the time the birds hatch until they leave the nest.  It's amazing to see them grow and change so quickly!

Packed in Like Sardines

Here they are on June 20th - just 8 days after they hatched.

June 21st - only 9 days old.

It looks like one of them might be getting ready to leave the nest.

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Love, Food, and Other Birds Things

I didn't know enough about birds to know just how much the dad was involved in feeding and caring for the babies.  And by looking at these images, which were taken when the baby birds were about 5 days old, there's some real emotion involved.  (Please pardon the smudge on my kitchen window.)

Waiting for food to arrive.  (I think she sees me through the window.)

Posing for the camera.

Checking In

"Hi dad!"

Always Hungry

He's never very far away.

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SUPPERTIME!!

It was so much fun seeing both mom and dad involved in feeding their babies.  These photos were taken when the baby birds were only 2 days old.

Mama bird waiting for Daddy bird to come with dinner

He would make the transfer to Mama bird

She would pre-chew the food

And feed it to the baby birds

I'm afraid my gag reflex would be kicking in right about now.

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Five Baby Birds

I came home late in the evening on the 12th of June and Brent told me that one of the eggs was starting to hatch.  The next morning I saw this in the nest:

Mama bird kept a very close eye on her hatching babies.

And daddy bird would stop by as well.

I was able to sneak out and get a little bit of video of the third one hatching while the parents were taking a break.  If you listen carefully you can hear one of them squawking at me and wanting me to leave the new baby birds alone. 

It only took about 12 days from the time mama bird started sitting on her nest for all five eggs to hatch.  They were hungry little birds!

It was amazing to watch how quickly they grew and changed - even within the first couple of days.

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The Hibiscus Tree

It all started when a woman my husband works with gave us this hibiscus tree as a new house warming gift. I had a large ceramic pot to plant it in and I surrounded it with some nice white annuals.  It looked great on the back porch right outside the kitchen window.

On May 30, 2015 I was on the back porch and noticed a nest inside the hibiscus tree with two small eggs inside.  The nest was facing the kitchen window.

The next day there were two more eggs.

And finally there were five!!

That day, June 1st 2015 mama bird started sitting on her eggs.

After posting photos of the eggs on facebook, I found out from a friend that they were most likely cardinal eggs.  We do have lots of beautiful cardinals all around our house quite frequently. Apparently only the male cardinal is bright red with a black "mask" across the face. The female cardinal has some red mixed within her feathers and has a bright red beak.

On June 2nd she was faithfully sitting on her nest.

  The next day we were having our kids and grandkids come for a week-long visit and we were planning to spend a lot of time on the back porch. Not wanting to disturb mama bird (she would leave every time someone opened the back door) we changed our plans and mostly kept watch through the kitchen window whenever we were home...which really wasn't all that often.

Needless to say I didn't get photos over the next 10 days or so, and frankly there wasn't anything new to see.  On June 11th there were still 5 eggs in the nest.

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