The Cardinal Nest

Previously in the post Nest Watch, I talked about finding a cardinal nest.

 Cardinals in my experience are very shy and secretive. I have never seen or spotted any of their nests before in trees or bushes, so this is my first time finding a cardinal nest (imagine my excitement ^^). Here below, I will post almost everyday of the chick's growth and development. Hopefully, they will survive the danger of cats and other predators. So check once in a while for updates!

*I will start from "day one"-meaning the day the chicks hatched- because I don't know ho long the eggs have been incubated in the nest. Just to let you know, I found the nest with the eggs on May 23rd.

Day 1- May 24, 2014

2 cardinal chicks hatched today! Probably sometimes in the morning because I checked them early in the afternoon. The are tiny and bald with a little bit of fluff on their head and body. They remind me a lot of the baby zebra finches I used to raise (but these cardinal babies are bigger). The chicks started gaping at me with their mouth open, but they won't need food at least for the first 2 days after hatching. I noticed that they still have a bit of absorbed yolk left on their belly which will serve as an excellent source of food and nutrients.

The second baby is behind the begging chick, it's a bit hard to see because it is lying down.

Day 2- May 25, 2014

This was the first thing I saw when I neared the nest. The female cardinal's tail was sticking out of the bush. I waited until the mother flew off to find food, then checked the chicks.

If you noticed in the picture that some of the leaves are different on the bush, it's because they are. I added some branches of similar looking leaves inside the bush, because I thought the space was too open and very inviting for predators to snatch away the babies.

Also, the third egg hatched, now, the only one left is the fourth egg.

Day 3- May 26, 2014

When I peered in the nest this morning, around 8:50, I saw blood on two of the baby chicks' faces! I almost thought that there had been a predator attack, until I noticed that one of the pointy spruce tree leaves were lying on top of the chick. Spruce leaves are very pointy and needle-like, so the tender skin of the cardinal babies were easily poked by the needles, causing it to bleed. 

I removed the spruce branch and replaced it with a maple branch. The soft leaves would not bother the chicks. Hopefully, the babies' wounds won't cause them too much harm in growing up.

Lemon's Double Yolker

I found a ginormous egg while checking the coop's nesting box. I'm assuming it belongs to Lemon because she lays the largest eggs. It was almost double the size of a normal egg (which is the size of Lime's egg), and loomed in size when I held in in my hands. It reminded me of the time when my old hen, Pine would lay me giant double yolk eggs.

Here's a short story about Pine laying a double yolk egg:

One day, around 2011 or 2012 back in my old house, Pine was spotted my mom without the rest of the flock. Since she was the lead hen, my mom got a bit worried and followed her as she hobbled all over the yard. She noticed that Pine's posture was strange. Pine was a bit hunched over with a drooping butt, and she walked slowly to each destination. It took Pine nearly 30 minutes, until finally, she stopped to rest at a big pine tree in the front yard yard. Out plopped a fresh new egg, and as my mom neared to collect it, she found that it was very big indeed! No wonder it took so long for Pine to push out that extra, extra large egg! Which mush have hurt considering the size of it. When my mom cracked open the egg, we found that it was a double yolker (an egg containing two yolks). Pine, our Easter Egger hen was the only hen of our 6-hen flock that would lay these ginormous eggs. She didn't lay them too frequently, yet they weren't rare. My only other hen that would give me an occasional double yolker was Sugar, my sweet sweet Red Star (click here to read her story). Though, even Sugar's double yolk eggs were not as big in comparison to Pine's.

Anyways. . .back from the past to current time. . .

Here's a comparison of each flock member's egg. Charcoal has the most petite and adorable chubby egg of them all.

I eagerly brought the egg inside to reveal what was inside.

Was it going to be a double shelled egg?

Or perhaps a triple yolk?

Eh, the first one maybe, the second. . .not so likely.

When I cracked the egg using the edge of my bowl, I saw that it was not a double shelled egg. There was rich yellowish yolk inside, already starting to ooze out now that I had disturbed the membrane. I cracked the other side and let the yolk drop down to my bowl. And there it revealed itself to be. . .a double yolk!

Nest Watch

A lot of birds have been in my yard gathering dry grass and collecting bugs recently, so I though: There is probably be a nest somewhere around here...

It happens to be that I was right!

One day, I followed a flying robin with food in its mouth to my backyard pool. The robin flew out from one of the side bushes as I walked in through the fence. I searched around the bushes near where he flew off and I heard faint cheeping, and found a lump of brown in the third bush down the row. I took a peek from the other side and there it was: a robin nest with about 3-4 nestling chicks inside. In  a few days they would be out and learning how to fly, braving the dangers of the outside world.

Top and bottom: In a few days the baby robins will be old enough to fully fledge the nest.

The only sad thing, is that when I returned to next day, the baby chicks were all gone. I searched the ground and found remaining parts of the poor little chicks. I suspect that the stray cats around my neighborhood ate them, so far I have seen at least two: a black, black and white, and a gray cat. Plus, a relative that was staying over, said she had spotted the stray black cat climbing over the pool fence.

Just a few days ago, however...
I found a cardinal nest!! It's the first cardinal nest I have seen in backyard (new and old house). Most of the time cardinals are very secretive, making it hard to find their nests. Here's a picture:

The eggs are a very light turquoise with brown specks all over (the specks get denser on the fatter side of the egg).

I really hope that the chicks that hatch out will not get eaten by the cats, well we'll see...