Reflections from Crumbly Acres: cardinal eggs

A new bird for me: a chestnut-sided warbler. I was filling the water fountain. The video helped me, but I had to do screen captures to ID it. The bird sang in the tree, then landed on the electrical cord. Happily, it was too hot for mosquitoes, and I could be patient to capture the moment. 😛

We've a Cardinal nesting in the lilac bush. It is a popular spot. I noticed a female Cardinal chasing momma robin away.

The phoebes and the hummingbirds land here↑, as well. Not only that, but going downstairs for a workout, I spotted a bird in the tree being fed by an adult. Running upstairs, I grabbed the video camera (and my reading glasses) to try and get a closer look. Sure enough, there was a baby bird.

Turns out, it is the cowbird, who had been in the phoebe nest (Cowbird in phoebe nest ). It hatched earlier than the phoebes. The parents are feeding both the cowbird and phoebes (4?) at the same time.

cowbird juvie from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Here is one of the adult phoebes.

phoebe from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

At the back 40, I still cannot capture the wood duck on camera. She is too quick for this, the camera too slow. There are still 9 or so eggs in here.

Remember our Bear? The date is terribly wrong. There are way too many bugs to stand there and reset the camera date! This was 8 a.m., May 31st. He's been seen not far away, on Elm Grove Rd. I was worried about bear and the wood duck nesting box, but Momma was wisely quiet, and he ambled by.