Mockingbird nest

[kedigato]

I found this Mockingbird nest with 4 eggs in a hedge in the kids garden here in Bradenton this morning -






Wikipedia link to Mockingbirds -

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mockingbird



The Mockingbird is the State bird of Florida. In the following link, you can hear it sing one of it's many songs -

www.statesymbolsusa.org/Florida/state_bird_FL.html

[kedigato]

Oh dear! I just found this other link where you can hear a Mocking bird singing a different melody, but also the info that the parents might not come back if you disturbed the nest while eggs are in it!!!

floridagardener.com/critters/Mockingbird.htm


I'm now hoping that the parent didn't notice me as it wasn't there when I found the nest.


Fingers crossed that all is still well.

[nazimundo]

Hope they don't desert the nest Kedi as it would be nice to see the little ones when they hatch.

Alfie

[DAG]

I second that Alfie!

[kedigato]

The first baby Mocking Bird had hatched yesterday morning!


The nest looks a bit untidy but this is obviously the style .




I just held the camera over, took one pic and then looked what was on it - and found a baby and an egg!




So I set the camera to video and just took a short one by chance -



Soon afterwards, one of the parents returned, so all is well.

[victoria]

Ooh, well photographed Sis, such a darling, never seen a bird so tiny, hope it survives. Looking forward to seeing pictures when they are all hatched.

[Deleted]

Kedi ...

Love it ... how lucky that you got the shots and video that you did. Glad the parents came back too.

We've got baskets under our eaves and we've had two successful hatching (that is from two different nests) .... doves.

[kedigato]

Thanks Sis and Jeanne. Jeanne, didn't you show some pics of nesting birds at your house last year, or the year before? Also doves, or was it swallows?

Took another peek and video (wobbly one, sorry!) yesterday, and there seems to be just the one giant baby and one egg left. Don't know if the other two eggs were thrown out, with the third to follow, or what.

I do remember that last autumn there was a baby that had just left the nest and could only run around. It lived in the kids garden too. At that time I thought that perhaps Mockingbirds only had one baby at a time, but now I am wondering if they only raise one?

[kedigato]

I had another peek two days ago and found that the nest had been tampered with and robbed.








Both the baby and the remaining egg were gone and there was no sign of anything either in the nest or on the ground. A few days earlier, PV had told us that he had seen a young racoon near the house, and where one is, there are more. I can only assume it, or it's family, had found the nest and so an easy meal. Sob!

[victoria]

Oh dear, Sis, how sad! I don't know anything about Mockingbirds to know their habits. Sorry, I couldn't get your video to load, will try again later today.