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.

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...

Turkeys Together

I woke up and saw:

About 5 Turkeys in walking over my yard and into the neighbor's property. By the time I grabbed my camera they were already making their way to the other neighbor's yard. Boy, was it raining hard. From inside it sounded like an ocean out there!

The turkeys, turning to leave.

A Sad Departure

Sadly, the little sparrow passed away this morning.

 As I went to check on the female sparrow, immediately when I saw the brown lump on the bottom of the cage I knew. The symptoms of her air sac mite infection seemed to be worsening, so I feared for the worse. My guess was right. The female House Sparrow I had rescued had been in pain and was already to the last straw, now her pain is finally released.

Rest in peace little birdie. 

UPDATE on Sparrow!

The weather outside was pretty nice today, so I brought the House Sparrow outside. She seems to be enjoying the sun outside too. Sometimes when I peak out the window to check on her, I will see her sunbathing lightly on a high branch.

Enjoying a little sunshine.

I also let the chickens out. Maybe not enough mental stimulation was causing my White Leghorn girls to be mean? I also noticed Lime frequently pecking at her neck feathers. It was worth a shot.

The flock swarmed around the bird feeder's fallen seed, it wasn't long until they noticed the interesting cage outside. Lemon, Charcoal, and Lime wandered towards the bird cage contain the sparrow, the little birdie hopped around nervously as her giant counterparts neared.

Lemon and Sparrow have a stare-down contest.

The girls decide to leave after finding that a little sparrow perhaps, wasn't as entertaining as they thought.

Lime takes another look before leaving.

UPDATE: 4/14/14

After changing the sparrow's water and food, I noticed that whenever she got scared by my presences she would flutter and hop around nervously. And after I was away in the distance would she would settle down and breath heavily (with an open mouth), making a clicking sound. Oh no. . .I thought. Clicking or wheezing sounds while breathing heavily in birds usually meant air sac mites, which would make sense because Sparrow came from the wild. If there were too many mites, the host would eventually die as air sac mites are surprisingly active (this activity can damage a bird's respiratory system), their dropping can also cause irritation in birds ( making it more difficult to breath).

The sparrow breathing with an open mouth.

As I searched online for more symptoms, I found that Sparrow matched a lot of them.

Symptoms of Air sac mites:

• Clicking.
• Open mouth breathing.
• Tail bobbing - which means the bird is trying hard to breath.
• Being less vocal - the only sounds she would make were these tiny squeaks, and when I compared her noise to a bird that was infected with air sac mites on a YouTube video, I was convinced she had mites too.
• Less activity and being fluffed up most of the time - Sparrow was fluffed up most of the time too. I read on and learned that it was to conserve heat
• Weight loss - I noticed this the first time I held her, she was significantly lighter and skinnier than my finches at home.

Sparrow had all of these symptoms, and most of them were made obvious after her constant fluttering when I neared her cage.

I will get some medicine tomorrow if I can find it in my local pet stores, preferably containing Ivermectin which is said to work better than SCATT. From how the little sparrow is behaving, I'm not feeling very hopeful that she will last long enough before I get the medicine.

Here the site I got most of my information from: http://www.officialbarrieshuttbudgerigars.com/airsacmites.htm

Week of Birds Compilation

Here is a compilation of pictures all from the week:

Here's a turkey that was eating in my yard on Monday, made a dashing run for the forest when I opened the door.

Hmm. . .got a stash up there?

A small Downy Woodpecker male preening, a little bit of fluff flew off him in the process.

Top and bottom: A Chipping sparrow eating out of the feeder.

Spring arrives.

Squirrel!!

One sunbathing Dark-Eyed Junco also known as a Slate-Colored Junco.

And now moving on to The Strawberry Wars:

Yum. . .scrumptious and juicy strawberries!

Oh no!A greedy Lemon steals the berry for her own eating.

Lime makes a run for it. In the end it was all eaten up, at least everyone got a bite.

Charcoal enjoys a rub on her neck.

And for some reason, she also has a habit of hopping into any available leg or should and just sit there.

The look of da Evil about to strike!
*dah daaah, da dah!* evil music in the background.

Either a Pewee or a Flycatcher. The second time I have spotted one of these birds! I probably most of the time mistake them for Juncos.

Top and bottom: Nuthatches! These are the clearest pictures I have of White-Breasted Nuthatches yet.

There were two of them in all where I was. They were chasing each other and scrambling all over the bark of the tree.

A Norther Flicker jabbing at the ground for insects with its long stout beak.

Lil' Nuthatch getting a good preening.

For some reason it seem like this Nuthatch was trying to stick a feather in the bark. Not really sure what the reason was. . .

Looking for something?

Chipmunk, frozen, in sight.

There was one perched in a bench on the neighbor's property too.

Playful Chickadees chasing each other.

A Red Cardinal singing, if you have never heard their song before it is astonishingly bold and pretty.