[ Post a Response | Heads Over Tiels ]
Posted by birdsrule, TC Advisor on 5/10/2011, 7:15 pm
Freddy is still a bachelor....so he didn't get to have any of the fun. But I am SO proud and excited to have 4 mockingbird fledglings living on my backyard patio! 
They are pretty much fully feathered....still just a little smaller than their parent. But I bet they will keep eating and grow to be mockingbird size. One of them was drumming his beak on my back door yesterday, and I was thinking, "Oh great, this year I've got a woodpecker to contend with." But turns out it was just a silly birdie playing and exploring on my patio.
I watched them today for about half an hour. They were running around on the patio and practicing their foraging. One would pick up an object that might be a bug....and everyone else would run over to see what treasure he/she found and scuffle for any tidbits dropped. So cute!
I'm kinda worried right now because we have some big thunderstorms headed this way, and I'm not sure if they know how to fly or if they know to retreat into one of the Japanese boxwood shrubs near my patio. These Texas storms can sneak up on a birdie, especially one that is inexperienced.
I also have a concrete birdbath bowl that is overturned and broken on the patio, so hopefully they can take shelter underneath that.
Every so often I hear mom or dad out there making a raspy chirp noise to round the babies up. It's been overcast all day, so the babies have just been hunting and exploring. They make a high pitched squeak, sort of like a fluff-covered baby chicken. And the rest of the time they are stopping to look around and practicing being quiet if they see something that might be threatening.
They are just so cute and adorable that I hope they are educated enough to make it through the storm, and through all the other dangers and harmful situations that await them during their lives. I would try to get a picture of them for y'all, but they are so tiny and slate grey just like my concrete patio, so they'd be hard to pick out.
Fred's not bothered by them, thankfully, except for the tapping on the door and the occasional landing on the window screen they do while practicing flying.
This is just what I have always wanted though....a safe haven for birdies so they can fledge their offspring in safety, educate them in safety, and have plenty of shrubs to hide in and build nests in. Food is plentiful, living out here in the country with lots of bugs around. And I have several trees for those birdies that need to build a nest higher up. I can't wait to see how many tenants I have moving in once I start putting together some birdie houses and hanging some birdie feeders around. It's gonna be so much fun!
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