Empty Nest

Monday, June 29—just over a week-and-a-half ago—I got home and checked the cardinal nest I had been watching for the previous few weeks. And, finally, my babies had hatched! The nest is in a small magnolia tree facing my garden, so on my daily garden maintenance (you are familiar with my beloved garden if you read my last post) I had become very acquainted with mom cardinal and dad cardinal as they took care of their eggs—or, rather, as she sat on them and he kept her fed (isn’t that sweet that he looked after her while she kept those babies warm?).

Once they hatched and I discovered them, no bigger than my thumb (see photo 1), that evening there in their nest they set out on a too-fast course of eating and growing. Their mom and dad took good care of them, flitting around in all the nearby trees catching bugs and mosquitoes (thanks, guys!!!) and feeding their voracious little appetites. Mom and dad would sit in a nearby tree and watch me very closely as I worked in the garden. I’d try to be careful and not bother the nest too much, but I couldn’t help but snap a few photos whenever I had the chance—then get out of the way. I put some oranges and food around for mom and dad as a special treat, they were working so hard feeding those little guys.

By Friday I was amazed at how much they’d grown. I really hadn’t even completely realized how big they had gotten until I compared the new photo (see photo 2) to the one taken just a few days before when I’d first found them. One had been kicked out of the nest by his brothers and sisters that afternoon and I put him back in (it’s OK, I looked it up and that’s what the bird Web sites said to do). He felt about as light and small as a ping pong ball as I picked him up. I knew they would have to be watched closely for the next week and so would our dogs. The only reason I knew he was out was because our dog Dougal was curious about him. Little did I realize that by “next week” I meant “the next few days”...

In my reading about cardinal nestlings I found out that they should start their attempts to fly at about 7 to 13 days (9-10 days average). Well, by Saturday afternoon—yes, they were only 6 days old—my little überbirdies had already started to fledge. I was so proud...and stunned. Saturday afternoon my husband and I checked the nest, looked at each other, checked the nest again, then started looking around the yard. We didn’t have to go very far to find them, fully feathered with cute and fuzzy little gray plumes—yes, you read that correctly, and I know you just looked back at photo 2 taken just the day before—and sitting about 8 inches up from the ground on the lower part of the small fence surrounding my garden. You could have knocked us over with a baby cardinal feather. I wanted to take more photos but was afraid to get too close and scare the little guys (or get scared myself if mom or dad decided to take my eagerness out on my head). I figured it was stressful enough being out of your comfy little nest learning the gigantic task of flying. But I am amazed, no doubt you are, too.

It’s been just over a week since we started this little adventure, and now they are (almost) completely on their own. I still see them in the mornings, practicing their flight around in the trees surrounding “home,” mom and dad still bringing them tasty worms and bugs wherever the little guys want to land and take a rest. It is a beautiful thing, but those kids, they grow up so fast.

~Grace