Empty Nest

Are you keeping up? I first blogged here about the Northern Cardinals nesting just outside our living room window.

First glimpse at the hatchlings

Taking these photos was terrifying.
I had to take them without being able to see what I was doing and the thought that I'd drop the camera on their tiny heads was a very real fear. Couldn't get the auto focus to work for me either.

Can you tell that they're bigger? I love those eager little mouths.

They eventually settled down when they realized that rustling of the leaves was not their mother.

It's rare we get to see both the male and female Cardinals on the feeder at the same time. My young son likes to scare them away by tapping on the screen door. My annoyance turned into my joy when I saw what I'd captured.

My mom snapped this one.  One day they were in their nest, the  next day they were out.  They scattered around  the shrubs and amber maples in the front of our house. I trembled for them since they couldn't fly, especially the little guy that perched for a day or two on the bottom branch, just inches from the ground.

My son holds the empty nest, which we did not disturb until they were long gone. We heard them "migrate" around the perimeter of our house, listening closely to the high-pitched chirp that indicates a chick.  I never seemed to hear more than two but I haven't seen any feathers to indicate that one of them didn't make it. Still, I suspect one did not. The whole family stopped by last week and I counted four in total.  There was a bit of plastic, a rotting corn husk from the compost (maybe?), even a moth wing. A bird's nest is a thing of beauty.