Can't Believe It!

 I no sooner said adios to the cardinals when I saw a bird flying out of my aged fern that was hanging near the cardinals nest.

It's been flying away before when I left the house and I always thought it was just the lady cardinal, but Noooooo! It's a lady BLUEBIRD. Now mind you. We have 30 bluebird houses that Don constructed and installed in areas near and far. They are cleaned out every spring by yours truly. So why on earth is this bluebird lady taking over an old straggly Boston fern? No idea, but she is welcome and it will give me lots of entertainment keeping track of this new brood. Five tiny blue eggs. Lots more spying to do! I've done more posting in the past few days that the past few months.

Lots of wildlife activity going on these days. Down by the creek we have been watching deer set up in beds along the edge. Today the spyglasses were put on them and they are young bucks! The velvety antlers are about the same length of their ears. These two have been resting along side the creek in canary grass that is almost taller than their heads. They plop down and take turns popping out every once in a while seemingly just to see what is going on around them.

The Fledge!

The fledglings, minus one who had already flown the nest. They are grey with little white marks under their eyes. Good camouflage. 

It only took 24 hours and the youngsters were at the edge of the nest, flexing their wings, doing deep knee bends, flutter, flutter. I watched the first one fly off the nest and was received by papa across the driveway. The other two took lots of time deciding. Ma was chirping wildly at them since morning and I finally decided I needed to do other things. Awhile later and the nest was deserted and quiet was restored.

The adults will be keeping the kids secluded in their hidden places while the little feathers come in. They really can fly yet (no tail feathers have come in) but can have bursts of instinctive flight. Since I've been researching cardinals I know they won't be setting another set of eggs in this nest. They start all over. In fact, mommy is probably out there getting ready to construct a new nest while pa takes care of the young'uns. It was a lovely day for the testing of the wings!

The Nest, the Bunny and the Cat

 Of all places... on top of the porch lantern. It started as a couple of spindly weed branches and I thought it was something the winds blew in. It continued to grow and precious dry leaves were added. Still no idea who was constructing this squatters lodge. As the days passed the construction crew finally showed up. Cardinals! I have never seen a cardinal nest anywhere let alone where we were going to be able to observe up close and personal. As the days passed I got curious and got the step ladder and a mirror out to see if there were any eggs. Three! Paler blue than a robin with little brown specs. Ma and Pa took turns incubating the nest and over the coming days I noticed they weren't on the nest as much. They were too busy finding meals for the babies! One by one, little noggins were eventually poking up in anticipation of their next meal. It's been a week now and they are definitely getting bigger. I can see them preening their feathers and bobbing around. 

There was huge ruckus on that side of the yard today. It finally dawned on me that Reba had escaped earlier. The cardinals were on loud chirp high alert, and purple finches came to the aid as well. I stepped outside to find Reba lounging on the patio. Near her, wedged by the edge of the house was a palm sized baby rabbit! Totally alive and keeping Reba company while sending everyone else into a tizzy. I picked up the poor thing and of course, like all rabbits will do, it screamed bloody murder. I turned to take it to the woods after getting the cat inside. Here was Mommy Rabbit a few feet away! I walked toward her and of course she ran to the woods, stopped and waited for me to catch up. She darted into the under brush and I left the baby bun close to cover. I'm sure she will be back and I'll check in later as well. 

There is more to come with this story and I hope it has a happy ending as well. The fledge!