Spreading Your Wings to Fly

Very shortly (in about 2 weeks) our youngest will be moving out of the house for college.  We will be "empty nesters."  While I'm very happy for Benjamin, this is a big step for us and life is about to change for us! 

Speaking of birds leaving the nest, on July 18th I was out by our purple hull pea patch and I noticed a well-crafted nest in a pear tree.  It was build with sturdy live oak twigs on the outer portion and a comfortable grass lining.  Was it a partridge in a pear tree?  Nope.  I looked around and saw a mockingbird and her mate flying around.  They were not happy that I had discovered their nest.

I peeked in to see two baby birds that had just hatched and a third egg in the nest. The baby birds' eyes were closed and appeared to be sleeping.  I left them alone, but decided to check in on them periodically.

The very next day I looked into the nest and saw that the third baby had hatched.  I tapped on the nest and they opened their mouths wide, thinking I was the momma bird coming with a fresh worm.  "I'm not your Mother!"

On July 23rd I walked out to pick purple hull peas and decided to see how the birds were growing.  They were asleep, but I was able to see that they had pin feathers.  The birds are piled up on each other, but you can count three beaks.

The parents of the birds were not cordial with my visit.  They squawked and fussed and made me not feel very welcome.  You can see one of the birds on top of the ladder and one sitting on the fence in the center right.

On July 24th I went out to see them and the baby birds were hungry!  I couldn't look for long, though, the mom and dad bird were irate.

This time the birds started chasing me.  As I was walking away quickly, I turned around in time to see the momma bird dive bombing my head.  You can see her out-spread feathers in the upper left portion of the photo below:

I told Tricia about the ANGRY BIRDS and she told me that they had chased her all the way back to the back patio!

On July 29th, the baby birds had full feathers.  They were alert and active.  The only odd thing is that there were only two - not the original three.  What happened to the other bird?  Did Ginger the cat get one?  We don't know.

On July 31st when I went out to check on them, there was no loud chirping, no scolding birds chasing me, and NOTHING but an empty nest. 

The Empty Nest

It was quiet and peaceful.  The parents had done their best to feed and house their babies.  They protected them and took care of them the best they could.  The birds had raised their babies and launched them out into the world!  Sounds very familiar as our last 'little bird' will be leaving our nest very soon.

Birds of a Feather Flock Together

We have a couple of palm trees in our backyard that have grown like crazy. Apparently, they like the location that we planted them in.  I only wish that they were the type of tree that produced something to eat.  What they do produce is a bunch of fronds that turn brown and die.  The fronds have large thorns on them that you have to be real careful when you carry them or they will stick you. (Experience speaking)

While nice to look at, they really don't provide anything of benefit.  Or so I thought...

Flocking Together

They provide an excellent place for birds to build a nest.  The other day I got out an extended wooden pole saw similar to the one in the photo below and began to cut off the dead fronds.  It won't be long before I'll have to get a ladder to perform this task as the trees keep growing and growing.

While I was cutting, I noticed a bird flying around.  As I looked closer, I identified the bird to be what we call a Mexican Dove, but I think the correct name is the Common Ground Dove.  They are much smaller than the Mourning Dove or the Ring-Necked Dove that are also prevalent around here. A closer examination showed that the dove had two little ones in a nest she had built in a cozy place where I had previously cut a dead palm frond off.  It created a perfect protected indentation to build a nest.  If you look closely at the picture above just a hair above the center, you can see two birds sitting in their nest watching me.  Their mom was not to happy!

Image Credit

I watched the birds for about a week.  They grew very quickly.  Before I knew it they were testing their wings out and flying in short hops out on the palm fronds.  In fact you can see one sitting on the frond after a test flight.  He's right in the center of the photo below.

One Dove out of the nest and on the frond

And then the next day, as we watched them, they both flew off into a neighboring pecan tree and we haven't seen them back.  Benjamin likes to shoot doves with his pellet gun.  We have a few doves in the freezer right now.  After watching these grow up, he said he'd be a little hesitant about shooting any more around the house, but I assured him that there are tons of doves.

It is that time of year when all the birds are hatching.  If you walk around the yard, you see pieces of egg shell in the grass, signalling that another bird has hatched.  If you look closely, sometimes you'll see little birds that try to fly before they are ready and end up on the ground.  This young bird below is one of those.  He's a baby Mockingbird, I think, and I saw him in some Indian Hawthorn as I was mowing. When I got Benjamin to show him the bird, the little fellow was gone.  I don't know if his mom somehow rescued him or if he fell prey to the cats that patrol the area.

Mockingbirds are appropriately named.  The other morning as I walked to work, I saw one mockingbird sitting on the top of a light pole and this bird went through 7 or 8 different songs of different birds, mimicking their song like an Elvis impersonator.  It was almost as if he was showing off.  He wasn't finished with his song list either, but I had to go inside.

I haven't talked about Penelope, our India Blue pea hen lately.  She has a great personality and a regal head dress that she wears with pride as she struts around. The old girl is still around and like clockwork everyday, she flies into the yard and then later on flies up into the very top of a tree to roost for the night.  The poor girl needs a mate.  She had her feathers all fanned out and ended up laying 5 eggs on top of the barn that she sat on, but they are not fertile since we don't have a peacock and they didn't hatch.  

Penelope, the (lonely) Peahen

I really need to remedy that.  A mate for Penelope would be cool to have around:

Image Credit

Oh, but the price is sort of prohibitive!  On Murray McMurray Hatchery, they sell an assortment of 8 peafowl for $392.40!  That's almost $50 per bird.  I'm going to check around locally and see if anyone has a peacock for sale at a better price.