Baby Cardinals!

I know I have other things to write about, but I’m distracted by the baby cardinals living next to my kitchen door.

They are in a honeysuckle bush (? is it a bush? a vine? just a plant?) that’s really right next to our kitchen door.

Their nest was previously very well hidden in the honeysuckle, but after a bad storm the other night, I found the nest had tipped over some and all the babies were on the ground!  I tried putting their nest back upright (and securing it with a second piece of trellis! ha! I am not a nest-builder.), but after mom and dad came to feed the babies, I found that the nest had been tipped the other way and 2 of the 3 babies had fallen again.  Luckily there was a nest “next door” in the bush, just a few inches away, so I moved the remainder of their nest and the babies to that old nest. Momma and Papa Cardinal don’t seem to mind, and so far everything seems peachy. They’re not quite as hidden as they were before, so I hope everything stays good.  (I’ve also “built” a little barrier of garbage cans and an old door to keep Grounder away from them!)

Here are the babies in their new-ish nest after I saved them for the 2nd time yesterday.

Three cute/ugly little babies.

I was able to get one picture of the eggs before they hatched, too!

Again, their first nest was super well hidden (and of course, I didn’t want to panic Momma and Papa by being too invasive).  In the above picture, I zoomed in on the computer to find the eggs. Here’s the picture without lots of cropping.

Isn’t it nearly impossible to see the eggs? They’re in the lower left corner.

Besides the headache of trying to keep Grounder away from the nest, it’s been fun seeing Momma and Papa Cardinal try to distract me and the dogs.

I’ve never gotten to see cardinals so up close before!  Generally they do a good job of distracting Grounder, too.  He'll sit for hours, absolutely focused and watch some point in the trees (like doggie TV) that I can only assume is a parent cardinal taunting him. It’s pretty great.

I’m happy I was (so far) able to help these little guys along and that their parents are on board with the change of address.  Here’s hoping they actually make it to flying!  Has any wildlife been distracting you lately?