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South Carolina, United States
Vetsy is my nickname that my family have fondly called me since my childhood. My blog reflects my personal views about the world around me. My topics may be anything that interest me but the majority of it is about my favorite past times...nature and gardening. Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment or becoming a follower.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

The Cardinal's Make a Nest or two"





The Cardinals in my garden seem to be the same couples that have taken up residents for at least 10 years.
I'm not an expert on bird behavior or habits, but I'm almost certain or would like to believe that these are the same two.




I read that Cardinals may produce four broods between April and August, They are already on their second nesting site this month, This time in the Weigela " Eva Rathke" the first nesting site was in the Duetzia Scabra where they produced and  reared three little babies.

I attempted to take photo's of their first little nest and brood by climbing up on a ladder, My Mom watched me with concern and amusement..."You know you  may get your eyes pecked out! .. "Yeah Mom, but If I can do this quickly, perhaps I won't disturb or scare them, It will only take a second"...So I thought"

  I didn't realize how dense the Duetzia Scabra  shrub really was  until I was high above it on the ladder.."Okay, mooove  slooowly"...

"Oh! there they are... If  I can just get this camera to focus"..

before my finger could even locate and  push the button.. LOUD  PIERCING SCREAMS and SHRIEKS! emitted from the biggest baby in the nest  like a Sonic Boom!...quicker than my cat can say Meow! ...

I had that ladder down and out of the way!  I knew Mom and Pop cardinal would be here in seconds flat after hearing those cries and they were!

I gave up trying to get photo's of this first event for this cardinal family was quick and smart as whips!

I guess I'll  have to leave this to the experts with fancy camera's..  However, once they were away attending to their babies who have now left the nest, I decided to take a picture of the empty nest... I watched the nest for several days, mom and dad returned,  but not to nest and it's single egg"  Instead they began a new nest in the Weigela. I will probably remove the nest and egg and save them as a keep sake.



I have a good view of Mom and Pops second nest site because this shrub is not as dense and is shaped a lot different.  This time I will just observe them from my garden chairs and maybe if I sit still enough,  perhaps I'll get lucky and capture a few pictures......



Daddy Cardinal gets lunch for Mom and the kids... Mom ( below)  takes a rest on a lawn chair as she ponders dinner.


         Below: Mom and Dad take turns watching for enemies high up in the shrubs.







Mom working on her New nesting site in the Weigela.





The nest almost complete.... Stay tuned for my antics and attempts as I try to capture the  the second  chapter  as it happens in my garden.. Thank you for stopping by and leaving a comment.








      




                                                  

13 comments:

  1. Great pictures of your cardinal couple. I hope you get to see little babies and get a picture or two with this next little brood. Glad you didn't fall off the ladder when the baby squawked.

    FlowerLady

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  2. Nice to meet you FlowerLady.. Thanks I'm glad I managed not to fall as well Lol! That would be an interesting post!

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  3. Hi Vetsy, I enjoyed seeing your cardinals. I have a pair nesting in the viburnum outside the kitchen window. The bush is pretty dense so I can't really see it well.

    Every spring there is a cardinal nest in that shrub. Like you I wonder if it is the same pair or maybe one of the babies hatched there in a previous season.
    Marnie

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  4. Hi! Marnie nice to meet you and thank you for stopping by.

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  5. I LOVE cardinals! I just love seeing those bursts of red in the trees.
    I've seen a few males and females near our house but I've never been able to take their picture, and I'm not sure where their nests are. Your pictures are beautiful! I'm impressed that you were able to take so many good pictures of them, especially of the Papa Cardinal with the worm in his mouth. So cute!

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  6. Thank you Angela I like that photo of Papa Cardinal with the bug in his mouth too"

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  7. What a delightful post. This is factual and funny. I can see you up on that ladder, and your mother all concerned about you. I also remember your post about the spider. Hmmm, hmmm. Let's see are you more like Ethel or Lucy?

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  8. Both LOl! ... P.S Thanks to Panini ( My Cat) staring wildly out the window at her, Momma cardinal changed her mind about the second nest site and move on else where, But dad comes by to collect lunch and Dinner as usual.

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  9. Vetsy girl I can just imagine how FAST you got down from that ladder ! The threat of mom and pop ready to teach you a lesson on privacy is enough to make me gear up to "get the heck down from here!!" haha
    Those are great pictures though .. and that nest with the single egg would be lovely to keep .. I regret I lost the one from last year when the deck was being built and we didn't have a shed for a while .. it had gorgeous little blue eggs .. I'm not sure if it was a robin's nest or not but it was in my Karly Rose grass of all places !
    I'm not sure if we have nesting birds in our trees but we have a lot of birds in the back garden and that is wonderful : )
    I'll be back to check out how you are doing with this new nest girl !
    Joy : )

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  11. Joy, I think I better find a little box to keep it in later on..It's easy to lose little things like this when you are busy all summer long.

    Thanks!

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  12. It's so fun watching the birds build their nest. I like to think it's the same Chickadees that build their nest in a birdhouse by our pond every Spring. Hope you are able to get some good pictures of the babies after they hatch.

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  13. Thank you Catherine I'm going to try".

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