Backyard Birds part 1
So many backyard birds that I never see! Cowbirds, finches, chickadees, and more!
So many backyard birds that I never see! Cowbirds, finches, chickadees, and more!
This brown-headed cowbird egg was in a mockingbird nest. This photo was taken AFTER the 3 chicks fledged. There was one mockingbird egg that didn’t hatch. The cowbird egg is the smaller white egg on the right.
This nest was located in a front yard.
The Cardinals visit sometimes, the Chipping Sparrows visit in flocks of about 50 every day, the Yellow-rumped WArbler visits multiple time a day to eat suet, and The Peep visits every day.
We saw hundreds of Snow Geese. The Peep has been coming every day to eat peanut butter and attacked a robin and another young male Mockingbird that was trying to take his tree, we had a robin in our neighbor’s tree and we saw three Cedar Waxwings in The Peep’s tree.
Today was a great day for birding! We saw a new lifer: Brown Creeper. We also saw a Brown-headed Nuthatch, a female Yellow-rumped Warbler, a Pine Warbler, and more! Also, yesterday I saw 5 Purple Finches in a tree! (New lifer!)
There are now about 30 Chipping Sparrows!
A few of our feeder birds
The Peep loves his mealworm suet!
The Peep was practicing singing! He knows 3 songs!
Here are The Peep’s parents
The Peep (As he has been named since the day I met him) looks so much better!
I figured out why he was so skinny and got attacked! Mockingbirds are supposed to have 2 weeks with their mother feeding them (Which he had) and 2 weeks of training from their father (The Peep didn’t get any training from his father which means he didn’t learn how to eat or defend himself.) The poor Peep would sit outside and scream all day at his mother and she wouldn’t feed him because she thought the father was taking care of him. The poor little guy. I’m so glad he’s looking better! He looked so bad before. (Much much worse than the pictures above.)
The hurt mockingbird looks so much better. He loves peanut butter!
The mockingbird that was getting attacked looks much better. He loves peanut butter!
Tweet and Barney nest fate… SO sad! 😭😭
We visited the nest later than we wanted today, (Almost dusk) we thought that the mother would be there. When we saw there was no mother we took the video of the nest and saw, it was empty! The nest wasn’t damaged so was probably a Blue Jay, Crow, or squirrel. Hopefully, we can find another nest to watch soon.
Injured mockingbird eating suet. He gets attacked by the adult mockingbird. They dig their claws into him as you can see the black marks. I finally got some pictures to show how bad it is. The adults are really rough at him. They attack him in mid-air, chase him and dig their claws into him. They also scratch him with their claws too. 😟😢
Barney hatched today! Now we’re waiting for Tweet! Happy Birthday Barney!! He has a few downy feathers on his back. His eyes are closed.
We watched this mockingbird grow up from a newly fledged bird and watched his mother feed him. Lately, for the past couple of weeks, he gets attacked daily and the adults that attack him dig their claws into him. The poor bird couldn’t defend himself because he was very thin at the time. His feathers were matted and in horrible shape. He has gotten bigger since he has been visiting the peanut butter “swing” but still looks horrible. Any ideas? He has lost a lot of weight.
As can see from the photos this mockingbird is not in good shape. He gets attacked daily and the adults that attack him dig their claws into him. The poor bird couldn’t defend himself because he was very thin at the time. His feathers were matted and in horrible shape. He has gotten bigger since he has been visiting the peanut butter “swing”.
I also saw an adult mockingbird with no head feathers. It looks like a vulture! This isn’t normal in mockingbirds. (It is normal for blue jays and cardinals to lose their head feathers.) Please help! This is really concerning as there are lots of sick/injured birds in our yard!
Northern Mockingbird nest at Paul D Rushing Chain of Lakes. Update: Tweet and Barney haven’t hatched yet. I hope they hatch soon! This nest is near the side of the road in between two ditches.
Tweet and Barney. Tweet is the lighter one and Barney is the darker one.
This little mockingbird loves to eat the peanut butter I put out.
Mockingbird nest with 2 eggs and used nest needs ID
Baby mockingbird eating peanut butter.
Last night one of my worst nightmares came true, not only did I lose all of the robin’s young… but also all of the mockingbird nestlings. I was walking by the robin’s bush and saw needles scattered everywhere. There was one dead baby in the bush, and the bottom of the nest was shredded. I came to find piles upon piles of feathers, with the adult female robin clearly being dead. Knowing a predator had been around, I rushed to check the mockingbird nest, as the adult male had been screaming the entire time I have been home. I have never had a mockingbird nest before and I was thrilled to watch these hatchlings grow up. Sadly, the nest was torn out of its place and all the hatchlings were gone.
THE GOOD NEWS: all song sparrow babies fledged, my 5 bluebird nestlings are well, and I still have two other robin nests, built quite high, that are being raised and are safe. Nature can be cruel and unforgiving, but that’s part of what makes each successful brood so exciting and warming.
A little Texas Mockingbird learning to be a proper state bird and enjoying some yummy mealworm suet.
The Northern Mockingbirds have hatched! All 4 are healthy and the adults have been quite aggressive and territorial to the other songbirds.
we visited this nest and it was destroyed.
On June 9th we discovered a mockingbird nest with four eggs. We visited it again on June 14th. We visited a 3rd time on June 29th and were surprised to see the destroyed nest. Do you think that the eggs hatched and the babies fledged? We had a really bad storm with almost 60-mile winds.
A northern mockingbird nest found at 2 eggs, a few days later it had progressed to 4.
Mockingbird fledgling yelling at its mother to feed it.
A baby Mockingbird. Trying to hunt for insects, wing-flashing. In case you’re wondering what the ‘toy’ was, she was playing with a clip for holding a bag of bread closed.
I first thought the nest was empty. I did as was suggested by other nest watchers and took a video of the nest. Was surprised to see four Mockingbird eggs. Was close to the dog park.
This is one of my favorite photos of a baby Northern Mockingbird. It’s as if this little one was modeling for a photoshoot and gave me some of the cutest poses. Hope you smile as much as I did when seeing this little one!
They are starting to move around so much. They will likely start leaving the nest over the next few days.
Northern Mockingbird parents were trying to build under my back porch cover but, the twigs/sticks kept falling thru the vertical boards. I put in some long screws and tied twine to create a bottom and they built a great nest. They have 5 little babies.
Photo of Northern Mockingbirds we estimate about 3-5 days old in our first nest! We think the other egg is from a Cowbird.
There was a Mockingbird nest in my yard and the four babies fledged a couple weeks ago – I wonder if this is one of the fledglings from that nest?
Mama and daddy Mockingbird have been busy bringing food to their four babies – here comes another mouthful!
The babies are a week old now and growing so fast!
All four babies in the nest 06/26/18
Three of the four babies hatched the morning of 06/23/18!
Found one more egg in the nest on 06/15/18
Had watched a Mockingbird building a nest in this small bush at the front corner of our house – I found eggs in the nest on 06/10/18.
Northern Mockingbird. “Nest in natural cavity” was the closest option. It’s actually in a shrublike tree.
Northern Mockingbird fledglings, ready to leave nest.
Nesting site of Northern Mockingbird with 3 young in nest.
The young birds all out and about to explore the outside world..captured them in different ways enjoying the sunshine food and the weather.
Three babies in the nest in my front yard. I miss them already!
This is a mockingbird nest in a forsythia bush at the edge of my driveway. I happened across the nest one morning while attempting to back out on to the road. I saw an adult bird nesting. My grandson lives next door to me and now every day we check their progress.
A photo of the Northern Mockingbird nest in our tree.
These 3 hatched on May 25th. At 10 days old, they are nearing fledge time.
These 3 eggs hatched 6 days ago. All 3 are thriving. Eyes open, but no sounds quite yet.
All three Northern Mockingbird eggs hatched today.
Three Northern Mockingbird nestlings that had hatched within the previous 5 hours wait to be fed.
The first hatchling from a clutch of 3 observed in a blue cypress tree.
A series of pictures from a Mockingbird nest in my backyard
Feathers are emerging. Down on their heads?
In the past two days, the activity has changed from lots of nest sitting to more perching in the fern near the nest, and lots of insect catching (thank you) by the mockingbird pair.
Mockingbird nest in the rosebush. about 2 1/2 feet off the ground.
Four eggs in a mockingbird nest built on the crown of a hanging fern.
Mockingbird Nest discovered in Florida Cherry Hedge on 04/24/15 with 2 eggs. On 04/25/15 at 11am there were 3 eggs.
Fledgling mockingbird back in shrub that holds the nest, the day after fledging
Nest on my NestWatch….I got my head buzzed by mom for this pic!
4 Northern Mockingbird eggs in a rose bush.
First egg of Northern Mockingbird nest
All of these birds can be found at the Johns Creek Environmental Campus Center in Johns Creek, Georgia. It is a bit hidden but in a man made forest and creek park.