The Mockingbird Babies

During my spring Open Garden on Memorial Day, one of the guests found a bird nest tucked into the top of 'Firefall', a miniature climbing rose.

At the time, the nest had one egg in it.  A couple of days later, I remembered to grab my phone and photograph it.  By then, it contained three eggs.  The parents added a fourth egg the next day.

Two weeks later, there were four baby birds.  Instagram followed along as I posted a photo of the babies every day.  For you, I will put them all here.

Day One:

Day Two:

Day Three:

Day Four:

One of the parents, keeping a close eye on me.

Day Five:

Day Six:

Day Seven:

Day Eight:

Day Nine:

Day Ten:

Today is Day Eleven.  I went out after breakfast to check on the babies and found that the nest was empty. 

My neighbor next door at the winery told me that he saw young Mockingbirds in his garden earlier this morning.  I'm certain that they were my babies.

It's amazing how quickly this process happens.  Four weeks exactly, from the time the first egg was laid till the babies fledged.  Mama and Papa Mockingbird were very attentive parents, swooping down on me whenever I was near their nest.  I have no doubt that their babies are in good hands, or wings, as they learn to live in the great big world.

The Wrens Are in the Greenhouse Again.

Yesterday, I spent a bit of the day by continuing my little-at-a-time approach to reglazing the windows of my greenhouse.  Instead of carrying my stuff back to the house when I was finished, I figured that it would be more efficient to store the tools IN the greenhouse near where I was using them.  As I opened the door and reached to put the stuff onto a shelf, I was startled by Mrs. Carolina Wren ... as she made a bee-line past me and out through the space of a missing window pane on the greenhouse's west wall.

Carolina Wrens often nest in the greenhouse.  This time, their nest is in a one-gallon pot on the shelf by the door (close to where I put my tools).

Grass, straw, twigs, moss, and a few feathers.  Looks comfy and cozy.

It looks like there are at least three eggs in there ... can't tell for sure till I go out with a flashlight to get a better look.

Fortunately, Mrs. Wren isn't too spooked by my comings and goings (which I'm trying to keep to a minimum now).  She leaves the nest when I get too close, but returns soon afterward.  I'm happy that this spring's nest is in such a convenient spot, so I can easily check on the progress of the eggs and the resulting baby birds.

Goes without saying that I will NOT be replacing that particular missing window pane anytime soon.

Bye Bye, Birdies

Day 13:  The Carolina Wren nest in the pot in my greenhouse is empty this morning.

I didn't check on the babies on Sunday afternoon or yesterday, so I don't know exactly when they left.

I really enjoyed them while they were here.

Sunday Snapshot ... Baby Wrens

Mr. and Mrs. Carolina Wren's five babies are ten days old.  Seems like it's been longer than that since they hatched.  I checked my calendar to confirm ... ten days.

This is a photo from Day 9.

The babies have grown so much!  They are beginning to look like their Wren parents, and not at all like the naked babies they were last week.  There is very little room in the nest now, and the babies don't move around much.  They sit with their chins on the edge of the nest (do birds have chins?), waiting for Mama or Papa to bring them something to eat.

Another Day 9 photo.

It will only be a few days till the babies leave the nest.  I've said this before ... I am amazed at how fast these little critters grow!

Day 10

Today will be a very good day!  We are heading to Maryland to attend a friend's birthday party.  Jim and Dan are two of our very favorite people and they throw the BEST parties ... and their home and garden are a place of wonder. 

Have a happy Sunday, Everybody!

Sunday Snapshot ... Random Sunday Stuff

Sunday Stuff #1 
Spend the morning at an auction. 

Auction online gallery showed a couple of items that I really wanted to have ... one for myself, and one for a gift.  I was outbid on a couple of things, but I did bring home this awesome box of random, mixed silverplate.  (not going to show you the gift I bought ... don't want to spoil the surprise for the lucky recipient.)

36 pieces of flatware, 3 small dishes, and 8 napkin rings.

Sunday Stuff #2
How are the baby Wrens doing?

So far, so good.  All five of Mr. and Mrs. Wren's babies are fine ... totally fuzzy and adorable.  You can see from the photo above that they are beginning to open their eyes.  I'm amazed at how fast these little critters grow!

I kept trying to get a photo with all of the beaks open at once, but this was the best I could do.

Sunday Stuff #3
Hummingbird maintenance.

We have had a LOT more hummingbirds this year than usual.  The little guys are sucking down the quart of nectar in my feeder every two days.  Sometimes, it feels like a full time job to make sugar water and keep the feeder filled.  We have had as many as three hummers at a time sitting and drinking at the feeder, and up to three more buzzing in and around trying to get a turn at the buffet.  (In theory, all six of them could drink at once, but they're WAY too territorial to every do that.)


Tonight, we are having dinner with our daughter and her family.  It's been a very nice, very relaxing day.

I hope all of you have had a good Sunday, too!

Happy Birthday, Baby Wrens!

Over the course of the day yesterday,  the eggs in the pot in my greenhouse all hatched, and Mr. and Mrs. Wren are now the proud parents of five babies!

As she spent the past couple of weeks sitting on her nest, Mrs. Wren has become accustomed to having me around, while I make trips into the greenhouse during the day.  I always say, "Hello, Mrs. Wren." to announce my presence.  Her nest is WAY back inside the pot, beside a large bag of perlite.  (Photographing the eggs, and now the babies, requires coordinated simultaneous use of both my camera AND a flashlight.)

The babies are so tiny, mostly naked with fuzzy down feathers on their heads and backs.  They grow so fast ... it seems like a miracle.  I hope to get out there multiple times per day to do the best I can to document the process.

A Week's Worth of Posts, All At Once

How can it be Saturday already?  Where did the week go?

I spent part of each day in my basement workshop.  Some of the rose cuttings in the north window are starting to show roots!  This is the roadside rose that I rustled last month ... I showed it to you in THIS post.

 

 

Most of my workshop time was spent painting the cabinet doors and drawer fronts from my brother's kitchen.  There are a lot of them, and the finish I want requires that each of them be painted multiple coats of two colors, both front and back, so it's going to take a while.  The top color is a custom mix of Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, that I showed you in THIS post.  This kitchen is going to be so retro and happy!

 

 

 

Mrs. Wren is now sitting on five eggs in her nest in the pot in my greenhouse.   See her tucked WAY down inside there?  It's hard to get a decent photo because the white perlite bag is in the way in every angle but this one.

 

 

 

The new Romantic Homes magazine came out this week, and my friend Janet's shop is featured in a fantastic article, with photos taken by her son!  See that little greenhouse in the corner of her display window?  Yep, I built that.  No mention of this in the article, but that's okay ... I am thrilled that all of the hard work that Janet has put into her shop is being recognized on a national level.  Love you, Janet!

 

 

 

A strong line of storms passed through our area on Thursday.  Whenever things like this are predicted, I always worry about my trees.  Last time we had a big storm, we lost two of the large Oak trees in our front yard.  (See the damage in THIS post)  Fortunately, this storm passed just to our south.  We had rain, but little wind and no damage.

 

 

 

Thursday's sunset, after the storm was gone, was a beautiful one ... as seen from our deck, looking toward Hartwood Winery next door.

 

 

 

Friday dawned with a beautiful blue sky, puffy clouds, and cool, comfortable temperatures.  It was a great day to do something outside.

 

 

 

Normally, this means working in the garden.  This day, though, I decided that it was long past time to clean up my Mustang and get it ready for convertible season.  It was so dirty and dusty after sitting in the garage all winter.

 

 

 

With the car all washed and waxed and polished (and myself and The Husband cleaned up, too), we spent part of yesterday evening at the local Friday night classic car cruise in.  There was a fantastic selection of cars last night ... with the Mustangs making a respectable showing.  That's a 1970 427 Cobra Jet parked beside mine.

 

 

 

To end on a garden and rose related note ... yesterday morning, I saw my first Japanese Beetle of the year.  This seems to be a little bit later than usual ... beetles arrived on June 4 in 2011, and I didn't note the day of their appearance in 2012.  We have had very few beetles for the past three years ... I wonder what this year will be like?

 

 

 

There you have it, a whole week's worth of blog posts in one shot!  The weather today is almost a gorgeous as yesterday.  Am I going to work out in the garden like I should?  Nope ... I'm spending today with Deborah, and we are going to hang out and hunt junk all day.

 

Have a great weekend!

 

Sextuplets, and More on the Way

Mr. and Mrs. Mockingbird have been tirelessly making trip after trip to their nest in 'Schoener's Nutkana' in my front rose garden, feeding their six babies ... who have grown so large that they now barely fit into the nest.

By next week, these babies should be big enough to fledge ... and Mama and Papa won't have to worry about guarding their nest and will let me work in my front yard in peace. 

In other news, there will soon be more baby birds here to coo and squeal about ... Carolina Wrens have made a nest in a pot in the greenhouse, and there are three eggs in it so far! 

 

I love wrens!!

 

Some Garden Friends

Yesterday was Spray Day ... it's the day that I set aside to load up my trusty Mantis Spraymate and spray as many of the roses as I can with fungicide to prevent blackspot.  I have only done this twice so far this season (and I should be doing it every two weeks), so many of the roses have very few leaves.  Surprisingly, many more of them look pretty terrific.

As I was going through the yard, with my trusty Canon point-and-shoot camera in my pocket as always, I came across some critters that I think are worth sharing.

This little toad was hanging out beside my pile of flagstone.  I tried to catch him, but he was way too wary and quick.

The birds that are nesting over the side door of the garage are tending babies.  I don't know what type of birds they are, but they get REALLY upset when you stand on a step-stool and point a camera at their young 'uns ... not to the point of 'immediate violent death' like the Mockingbirds, but they're still pretty menacing.

Do you know what type of bird this is?

These are the parents.

and here are the babies.

Another mystery visitor was this turtle (tortoise?) that I found loping across the driveway near the house.

He was about five inches long.  When he saw me, he sucked his legs inside his shell, but he never pulled his head in completely ... though it looked like he could if he had wanted to. 

He was a bit more elongated than the Box Turtles I am used to seeing in the yard, and his shell was very smooth.

I should have probably taken a photo of his underside, but I didn't.

Does anyone recognize this little guy?  I checked the Virginia Wildlife web site to see if any of the turtles listed there were a match, and I didn't find anything.

I love finding critters in the garden!

Nevermind

I enlisted the aid of The Husband yesterday afternoon ... to be my wingman while I took a photo of the baby Mockingbirds.  His job was to stand directly behind me, wave his arms, and warn me if one of the parent birds made a dive.  As I peered into the nest, I saw this ...

Nothing but rose petals. 

Two days ago when I took the last photo, the babies looked like they were getting pretty close to fledging, so I imagine that's what happened.  They must have been pretty close by, because the parents were still in their protective posture, squawking and warning us to stay away.  I think they read yesterday's letter I wrote to them, because neither of them actually dove at my head ... and we can go in the garden without too much fear.

So I won't need to use the yellow 'Caution' tape that I bought at Lowe's yesterday to rope off the yard to warn our visitors who come to today's Open Garden.  As much as I loved the humor factor of roping off part of the yard with neon yellow crime-scene-type tape, I'm glad that I don't need to worry about someone being frightened or hurt by the birds.  Neither of them ever made contact with us or the cat ... but it sure looked like they wanted to.

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Mockingbird,

Your overly-protective style of parenting is completely unnecessary.  Before your babies hatched, you would sit on your wire and hiss and squawk at me ... warning me to stay away.  I was okay with that.

5/12/11

After the babies hatched, your defense methods took on a much more menacing tone.  This is my yard and I don't appreciate having birds dive at my head.  I was only working in my rose bed.  I know it's your babies' bed, too, but I wasn't anywhere near the bush where they were sleeping.

5/20/11

As your babies have grown, so has your defensive attitude.  At first, I couldn't get near the flowerbed where the nest was.  Then, you took possession of that whole corner of the front yard ... hovering over my head and warning me of imminent blindness if I didn't back off.  At least I have a second or two every couple of days to snap baby pictures while you two are off hunting bugs.

5/22/11

Now that you have taken complete possession of most of the north half of the front yard, I must ask that you cease and desist.  It has gotten to the point where our whole family must endure your Shock and Awe tactics whenever we go over to a car that is parked on that side of the driveway.  Flying at our daughter the way you did yesterday, when her only crime was coming out the front door, was beyond the call of duty.

5/25/11

Because of your psycho protectiveness, and for the safety of visitors during tomorrow's Open Garden event, I am going to have to rope off a large portion of the front garden.  Hopefully, you will allow us to enjoy the roses from a distance.

Sincerely,

Your Landlord