Tag Archives: fledglings

Backyard Beauty

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Mrs. taking a break from fledgling rearing.

Actually Red is the one who I see most often — one on one with a fledgling. He’ll fly back and forth across the backyard and feed them himself from our bird feeder or a birdseed block on the ground. I think Mrs. must have been in the nest with the remaining little ones.

Red feeding a fledgling.

This week a cactus bloomed out my window. It only lasted a couple hours because it’s hot! High of 98 degrees today. Not as hot as it gets but a change from the cool weather we were having.

I was excited to see one male fledgling getting red splotches of feathers. They become fully red at one year. This photo is way out of focus because he was darting around and I was so excited my hands were shaking! I thought about not including it, but I wanted to share what Little Red looks like turning a blotchy color.

Here’s Mrs. on the planter. I was very happy to capture both photos of Mrs.

There’s always a few Gila Woodpeckers around. They look similar to Gilded Flickers that I wrote about Wednesday, but they don’t have a spotted breast and lack the cinnamon cap.

A Mule Deer was hanging out in the shade under a tree by our driveway.

Red likes to hang out in a tree over my head when I fill the feeder. When I call him — while holding onto a bag of birdseed — he comes immediately. He’s got little ones to feed and needs to be first in the feeder!

Happy Friday!

Which photos are your favorites? What are your weekend plans?

Bird Watching

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This is a fledgling who appeared with Red in my Wednesday post. This is such a fun year with a possible three babies to watch with Red and Mrs., my backyard cardinal couple.

Add to that multiple quail families with babies ranging from brand new and itty bitty to rangy teens.

Baby quail.

Papa guarding his babies.

A family of older babies hanging out in the shade under a bench with daddio. Smart birds! It’s gotten hot!

These are the itty bitty babies.

Then there’s the backyard bully bird — the Curve-Billed Thrasher. He doesn’t look so mean perched on a pink flamingo a friend gave me from Costco for a birthday present.

A female Gilded Flicker can make a quick dent in the food block.

Do you have a favorite photo? If so which one?

What’s on the agenda for the first weekend of June?

Bird of the Week — Cardinal Fledglings

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 CLXXI

This is one of two Northern Cardinal fledglings that made an appearance in our yard this past week. He’s with his dad. Although the coloring of the fledgling looks like an adult female, fledglings beaks are gray or black while the adults’ beaks are bright orange.

The Latin name for the northern cardinal is Cardinalis cardinalis.

This is the smaller fledgling. They are gray until about three months when their coloring appears. Until then I won’t know if these are males or females. If they are male they will get splotches of red. If female, they’ll get the orange highlights of the female adult.

This is Mrs., our adult female cardinal and mom of the two fledglings.

We have had a cardinal male and female in our yard for two years. I’ve named them Red and Mrs. I’ve been waiting patiently to see if they’d have a family, and I’m beyond excited to see their fledglings.

The female lays three to four eggs and incubates them by herself for 12 to 13 days. The young leave the nest in about nine to 11 days after hatching. Once they leave the nest, they are called fledglings. Both parents feed their young but often it is the father.

Here’s Red feeding his large fledgling.

Fledglings will often hide in bushes or shrubs while most often the male will feed them for a few weeks. They become fully independent after about a month. I am curious if they will stay in our yard, or will find their own home away from their parents.

UPDATE:

A day after I wrote and scheduled this post, I saw Red with a brand new fledgling or possibly fledgling number 2 who I named “Mini me”. Here are a few photos:

The way the baby moved and was so shaky standing while I got photos gave me the idea that it may be Cardinal fledgling number three. I read that eggs are laid over time and they may hatch over several days or even weeks, which is why they can be different ages and sizes.

I have gotten comments on my Next Door app and friends that fledgling number one is the adult female. The color of the beaks, black vs. orange, plus and seeing Mrs. in the backyard with fledgling number one lets me know for sure that they are separate birds

What do you think of my Cardinal Fledglings? Do I have one, two or three?

Oops!….I did it again!

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Mrs. and Red have shown up together a few times. I wonder if that means they don’t have fledglings in the nest? Or, have they flown the nest?

Monday I had a big, long day and I woke up in the middle of the night with a dull ache in my ankle.

I started Monday with a 30-minute walk. Then I got ready to have breakfast with a neighbor. She offered to drive me to my hair appointment and we decided to get breakfast along the way first. My hair appointment is 50 minutes away — which is too long for me to have my pedal on the metal!

We left my house at 9:30 a.m. and I didn’t get back until 3 p.m. After elevating and icing, I cooked dinner. Normally this wouldn’t be too big of a day. But right now, post surgery, it was! I had my ankle brace on most of the day and I think that’s what made me sore.

I woke up yesterday beyond tired. I skipped my walk because I had morning PT. I explained to the physical therapist that I was tired and overdid it Monday. He thought I meant Saturday, not Monday. He told me to know my limits and continue to do more, but don’t push it.

Then he proceeded to rip into my ankle with his fingers. He added one legged leg presses and few other exciting things.

Needless to say I’m toast! In case you missed it, I wrote about overdoing it last week when my surgeon cleared me to walk, drive and get in the pool HERE.

Red before he took off from our tree. The Red flying photo isn’t perfect, but I like the movement.

When have you had a day where you felt you overdid it?