cardinals

A mysterious disappearance

July 23, 2009 by kathi

On Monday, we had a baby cardinal sighting. It was quite brief and it was not possible to determine much, including the age of the little one. And now it seems that we have had a mysterious disappearance sometime in the last 24 hours.

We haven’t seen much of the male cardinal, but the female has been to the nest every day. Today, however, she was not sighted at all. Since the nest was unattended and neither parent was seen or heard nearby, Dan got in close to quickly stick a cameraphone above the nest and get a photo:

Two eggs, no babies. Hopefully the baby we saw was older than we originally thought and was ready to leave the nest. In trying to find out more information about cardinal nesting habits and cardinal babies, I found estimates of anywhere from 7 to 15 days before the young ones leave the nest. I did not think the cardinals had been there that long, but I don’t know for sure.

The eggs are supposedly laid one each on consecutive days, so I’m not sure why (at least) one hatched and the others did not. I’m guessing these eggs are not viable since we haven’t seen the female cardinal for a whole day. Either that, or something happened to her. We do have the occasional predatory bird in the area, and of course a fair number of cats whose owners let them roam outdoors.

It’s sad to think that something might have happened to them, but that would be part of the circle of life. I just hope it had nothing to do with the overzealous bush trimming last week, but I have a feeling that is probably the cause of those two eggs not being viable.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 23 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 180 of 274)

Baby cardinal sighting!

July 20, 2009 by kathi

If you sent your good thoughts to the cardinals in the neighbor’s rosebush, thank you! A baby cardinal was briefly sighted in the nest this morning and baby bird sounds were heard later this afternoon. So there is at least one baby, and possibly more, despite the traumatic remodeling that was done to their home late last week.

I wish I had photos to share, but I don’t want to unnecessarily disturb the birds. Even the dogs are on their best behavior, though not always by choice. When we hear the chirps of the female cardinal, we get the dogs to go to the other side of the yard or go inside so she can feel more comfortable about getting to and from her nest without giant Rottweilers staring at her.

I was just so happy to see that baby bird this morning and I hope he (or is it they? still can’t see for sure!) continues to grow and thrive.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 20 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 177 of 274)

My non-bird neighbors suck

July 18, 2009 by kathi

I hate my neighbors for a variety of reasons. But the latest one completely proves that they are huge jagoffs and that they suck like a Hoover.

You read about the cardinals that live in their rosebush. So, a little bit of information about that rosebush. I moved here almost 20 years ago. The original owner of the house was still alive then, and the rosebush had obviously been there for quite a long while, maybe even being original to the property. There is also another bush of some sort that has intertwined with the rosebush. It doesn’t seem parasitical as it’s been there a while and the rosebush is still going strong.

In the past few years, very little maintenance has been done to the rosebush. Every summer, the branches on our side of the fence grow to the point where my husband ends up cutting them back so they don’t whack us in the face when we walk by. I should say so they don’t whack me in the face. He usually watches where he is going. I am often doing mini-obedience drills with one of the dogs, and get whacked in the face when I’m paying attention to the dog instead of the bush. You would think by now I’d know where the bush is and call a right or left turn just before it.

Enough about my lack of dog training skills, and getting back to the point, which is that the bush doesn’t get trimmed very often. Not on our side, and certainly not on the jagoff owner’s side either.

So why then, at this time of all times when the cardinals are nesting, do those stupid jagoffs decide to cut away the non-parasitic whatever-the-hell plant, and trim the rosebush, too? The only saving grace is that they didn’t knock the nest down. The cardinals haven’t abandoned the nest yet, but it’s much less sheltered, at least as viewed from our side of the fence (which means that it may be even more open on the other side), and the branches that gave cover and shade are gone.

The nest is just high enough that we can’t see if there are eggs or babies or if they are safe. We just assume there are eggs, at least, because the female is there daily. All we can see for sure is that the nest is not as protected as it was before those jagoffs trimmed the bush.

Add them to the list of jagoffs that need punched in the face. Hard. And think good thoughts for the cardinals.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 18 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 175 of 274)

Another new neighbor

July 14, 2009 by kathi

You may recall that a pair of cardinals has taken up residence in the neighbor’s rosebush. I see the female cardinal daily, and the male cardinal occasionally, so I am hoping all is still going well and that everything is on track for cardinal babies very soon.

I often see half-grown or adult rabbits in the neighborhood, but look at the adorable new neighbor who scampered by this morning:

He (she? really don’t know) is very tiny. Here’s a wider shot for scale. The planter at the left is maybe a foot high. The branches are from the cardinal’s rosebush.

Welcome to the neighborhood, little bunny. As long as you do not eat our flowers, you are at least as welcome as most of the humans, and way more welcome than a few of them. But please, please, please don’t come in the back yard where the Rottweilers play. You will live a much longer life that way.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 14 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 171 of 274)

Random thoughts

July 9, 2009 by kathi

I don’t have enough to say on any one topic, so you get to listen to… ermmm… read… this “brain dump.”

I’m awaiting the arrival of my WordPress 2.8.1 automatic update bar. It is sad that even the five-minute update is too much work for me now that I’ve gotten accustomed to the automatic updates, which work great for me. I know some have had issues with the automatic updates. I am not one of those users. If I were smart, I’d be backing up my database and files while I wait, instead of waiting for the update bar to remind me.
I really enjoy Thursday’s Monthly Mingle and the bloggers I’ve “met” there. Thanks, Indigo, for the fun that is the Mingle!
As part of my rally obedience education (remember, I’m the dumb half of the Freya and me team), I joined one Yahoo! Group devoted mainly to AKC rally, and one specifically for UKC rally. I am truly appreciative of the good information that is shared freely in messages and files, and I hope to be able to contribute in time as I do in other groups where I actually know something useful about the subject matter. However, the signal to noise ratio of forums and e-mail lists just amazes me. So many people just don’t seem to care about netiquette, or maybe they simply never learned it. There was a time when only “smart” people had computers, but there was never a time when only polite people had computers, so what gives? This isn’t about the two groups I just joined, by the way. It’s an observation about forums in general (these two actually have a very good signal to noise ratio).
Bird neighbor update: I haven’t seen the male cardinal in a while, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he hasn’t been around. I think we keep very different hours. The female cardinal has been sitting on her nest daily. According to several different sources online, cardinal eggs take from 11-13 days to hatch, and the babies leave the nest in about 10 days. I’m not sure when the eggs were laid, but based on when we first noticed the cardinal pair, I’m going to start being very careful with the dogs near the rosebush starting late next week.
I’m really amazed at how many hits have come here as a result of searches for “Mary Wild” or “show dog deaths.” That awful incident has been in my thoughts as well quite a bit ever since it happened on June 22.

(NaBloPoMo | July ’09: 9 of 31 | 75% Challenge: 166 of 274)