Here is the little guy puffed up drying out, preening himself in a oak tree after a horrendous windy rain storm. I went out to look for him to make sure he was okay.
Here is a slide show with more of the baby if you want to see more.
Thursday, May 10, 2012
Baby Cardinal - about 3 weeks old
While mom and dad are busy preparing for a new brood building a nest (the nest is done but not in use right yet) right here in our backyard they are also busy weening this little one. I will refer to it as a he for the sake of simplicity but I am not sure if it is a boy or girl yet. He is molting and has some red but so does mom in all the same places. He still has some baby fuzz on him. I think he is about 3 weeks old but I am not sure because I only noticed him a week ago. He is a big little guy but it is common for baby birds to be the same size as their parents. This little guy seems bigger than them. He is a chubber! This is the second day the little one has been left alone quite a bit. Yesterday, he had his first visit to the bird feeding dish all by himself and he ate around it. Today, he is like a pro at it, jumping on the rim and even in it! He tried to show his papa this first thing this morning how good he was at it,and he got chased away 3 times, I think being told to go get some insects first. You need your protein! Kinda like when you were told to eat your vegetables at the table as a child. Anyways, he seems pretty content and confident to be alone. He is not crying for food like the mockingbird babies do when learning to be more independent. His flying skills are improving, so speedy I actually thought he was one of his parents this morning coming in. He is reacting appropriately to scary things like when our cat accidentally got outside this morning he flew away real quick. He can hold his own with brutal short rain storms we have had yesterday and today too.
