Our yard is a crazy busy baby bird nursery right now and I absolutely love it. I can’t get anything else done because all I want to do is watch the nesting robins and all the other exciting activity out there. And I’ve got lots of pics to share with you, so let’s get started with an update on the robins.
Today I got my first glimpse of actual live babies in nest #2. I’d been worrying about what was going on in that nest since I hadn’t seen much parental activity. But they’ve got at least two youngsters in there and they look about a week younger than the ones in nest #1.
I set up my tripod in the usual spot about 25 feet from nest #1 today. I sat quietly, occasionally taking photos and short videos. After about 20 minutes Mama Robin appeared on a branch directly over my head, looking down on me. She wasn’t agitated, just a bit curious. I quickly snapped a couple pics of her, afraid she was going to drop something wet and slimy on my head to show her displeasure at my being there. But nothing landed on me, and she left after a minute or two and resumed worm-gathering in the lawn (which you’ll see in a video below).
Here’s a short video of the nestlings being fed today too. I suggest you click the “full screen” button to see the biggest version of their cuteness, and turn up your volume too. The parent arrives with food at the 38-second mark….
Isn’t that the cutest thing you’ve seen all day? I just know those babies will be out of the nest this weekend. (Well, I don’t know it, but I expect it…) I hope I get to see them take their first awkward flights.
And then we have the Blue Jay babies. Oh my goodness, you haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen a recently-fledged Blue Jay chasing its parent around, loudly squawking to be fed. They’re so noisy. Today I saw five of them at once — one parent was feeding two juveniles and I think the other two must have been from a separate brood. All five of them were interacting with each other up in the trees, but it’s hard to see who’s doing what in all that chaos.
Now here’s something interesting. If you pay attention to birds in your yard, you’ve probably seen this before:
In case you don’t know what’s going on in this photo, let me tell you a little about the Brown-headed Cowbird. They are brood parasites, which means that they lay their eggs in the nests of other species. The Cowbird egg usually hatches before the eggs of the host species, and due to that timing and the fact that the Cowbird babies are bigger than the host babies, the Cowbird ends up getting most of the food while the other babies sometimes don’t survive. It’s a raw deal for the hosts (in this case the Chipping Sparrows), but a bargain for the Cowbirds — they don’t have to build their own nest or raise their own young. Every time I see a tiny little Chipping Sparrow running around the yard trying to satisfy the appetite of the larger Cowbird, I wonder how they manage it. And I never see the sparrows feeding any young of their own species, which is sad.
Cowbirds were a big part of the reason the Kirtland’s Warbler population took such a nose dive in the past couple decades. The warblers have made a comeback partly because of an aggressive program to control Cowbirds in their breeding areas (they are trapped and killed).
So every year we see the Chippies feeding their hulking Cowbird babies. But this year our yard is also home to a Northern Cardinal nest that was “borrowed” by the Cowbirds. I was very surprised and disappointed to see this the other day:
Apparently we aren’t going to see any adorable Northern Cardinal babies in our yard this year either. I had a bad feeling about this year’s nests when two pairs of Cowbirds were regular visitors to our feeders for the entire month of June. Oh well, better luck next year I guess. But even as youngsters, the Cowbirds are making a nuisance of themselves. Witness this Cowbird photobombing my pic of a family of Northern Flickers as they eat ants in the gravel:
I learned something about Northern Flickers today too. I thought these were all males because of the black mustache stripes on their faces; females don’t have the stripe. It turns out that both male and female juveniles can have the black marking on their face. But I saw one of these birds feeding another one, so I think this is a male parent with two young. Seeing three Flickers is a rare treat for me. I took some video of them but it was pretty shaky so I don’t think I’ll upload it. I almost get a headache from watching it myself. You’ll just have to trust me that they’re cool birds.
And finally, here’s another video showing what good providers our Robin parents are. They had a feast at this particular feeding!
Nature Is My Therapy 
I have a problem with a pair of Chipping Sparrows and a Cowbird working together making a nest under the hood of our truck. I have removed 2 finished nests and a partial nest DAILY for 3 weeks and don’t know how to keep them out! It is not a good place to make a nest as well as being a fire hazard. I have tried to put artificial owls, cats and sparkle ribbons to scare them away…they pooped on the cat and the owl and used the red,gold and silver ribbon in the nests! Every time I have to drive, I must clear out a nest to keep from igniting the dry grasses, and corn husks from the wiring and heat under the hood….any help?
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Wow, this is interesting to me. I know that cowbirds often lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, but I’ve never heard of them actually HELPING to build the nest. Are you sure she’s helping, or is she just watching them? Interesting.
As for discouraging them from building under your hood, have you thought of putting a tarp under the hood each night? (When the engine is cool, of course.) Or maybe even covering the whole car with a big tarp… I’ve also heard that a rubber snake can discourage them, but you have to move it often so they don’t figure out that it’s not real.
Good luck, and let me know how it goes.
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So loving the posts about the babies! They are a joy to watch! 🙂
The other morning at dawn, I woke up and peeked outside (most of my feeders are just outside the window) to see a mama Mourning Dove with her two fledglings in my *small* hopper feeder. So sweet! I’ve also been lucky enough to have robin babies reside in my yard, and the sweetest, chubby little grey Cardinal female baby choose my yard and feeders for spending her first few weeks on her own. 🙂 LOTS of very noisy, fluttery house sparrow babies chasing their parents for some chow, too. lol
I had a pair of cowbirds visiting my feeders for a short time, so was very worried they would take over another’s nest. So far, so good, and no sightings of that! I’m disappointed to hear of your sightings!
Thanks for sharing with us! I’m so grateful… xo
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Hi Kylie, thanks for sharing about your bird babies too…I envy you those baby Mourning Doves! I’m pretty sure we had a Mourning Dove nest in our yard, but I haven’t been able to find it and haven’t seen the babies. But I was thrilled to see a dove in the nest with her babies during spring migration in Ohio back in May. The photo is at the bottom of this post, if you want to see the cutest little thing ever.
Thanks again for your visit and comment, I appreciate it so much.
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Kim, I did not know this about Cowbirds, and frankly, I haven’t seen this activity around here, though I’m sure it exists. The Northern Flickers are some of my favorite birds. We see them in winter months mostly. All of this hatching is exciting. We’re seeing a lot of fledglings lately. Busy time of year!
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Lori, I love Flickers too, and we’ve been seeing lots of them suddenly as they young start moving about. We spent yesterday at Shiawassee National Wildlife Reguge in Saginaw and saw several Flicker families foraging in the gravel roads. They’re such cool birds.
Our baby robins are still in the nest today…I think they’re overdue for coming out now! I’m anxious to see them come out, but will probably feel a letdown when they go.
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Loved this Kim! Thanks for sharing about all this–I had no idea the baby birds would be so big in their nest and still being fed. Loved seeing the pictures and especially the videos–thanks for suggesting the full screen–it is better that way. 🙂 I am shocked about the Cowbirds–that upsets me! This is the first post of yours I’ve read in a while because I have been so busy–sorry about that–I am sure they are all wonderful as usual and I will go back and read them when I get time. Keep up the great writing–you are doing great work here! 😀
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Roxanne, I’m glad to see you here — I’ve been thinking of you lately! And believe it or not, the baby robins are still in the nest as of this evening. I thought for sure they’d fly by today….
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Great pics! The Cowbirds are certainly a nuisance. I guess they’re just doing what they know how to do, but it’s hardly a fair playing field with all the habitat alterations humans have done.
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That’s so true, Randy, that humans have altered the habitats and made the cowbird’s lifestyle much easier.
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That’s an amazing amount of bird life going on in your backyard! I had no idea cowbirds could be such a nuisance. I would be especially upset about the substitute cardinal baby.
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It is a lot of bird life, isn’t it? And I’m sure we’re only seeing the tip of the iceberg. There must be many more nests in the treetops of our 2 acres of woods. It’s amazing to think about, really.
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