Afternoon swim and snack

These little guys are just too cute to stop posting about. OMG I am obscessed. I have to stop with the splash bath photos and this family! Enough!

Here is what the cardinal family is up to

The cardinal family is very busy. Mama and Papa have close eye on the fledglings. The babies barely have feathers but they are learning to fly and investigating everything in the yard. The fledgling below ran into our lanai screen tonight but he was not injured. Phew!

Nestling Cardinals

Neighbor heard babies tweeting and found nest in the lower branches of a oak tree. Oh no! In the direct path of Orange County tree trimming scheduled to begin 4/21/2014. These are little Cardinals.

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fledgling cardinal taking a bath

hot summer day. baby cardinal takes his first splash bath in the yard.Pics taken through window. That bird bath will be cleaned today!

cardinal couples

male and female cardinals with the beautiful color with and without crest. They are the loudest ones in the morning. The mockers are loud but they sing a nice pretty melody.

cardinals - brood 4

Mama and Papa cardinal have had one brood of babies after another this season and I can't say for sure we are done either. Here is brood 4, a boy and a girl. The boy is on the left and girl on right. Here they are playing in the water dish having a grand ole time. You can tell they are babies because their coloring has not completely come in and their beaks are still black not orange. These pics are not the best because you can't get outside to take them. Cardinals are very secretive and they don't let you close. They fly as fast as lightening and usually very low to the ground, a few feet. They have very good hearing too and sometimes when I even lift a blind blade to stick my camera lens through it they fly off. They have to be this way because they are a good meal for the hawk stalking them. This series was taken through 2 layers of blurriness, a glass window, and then out through the lanai screen.  Sometimes you just have to take what you can get. They were so adorable. The girl had the best time, splashing like crazy. The boy has been the late bloomer. The little girl has been coming to the feeder herself  for a couple weeks. She has a longer leash with semi supervision. The boy not so much. You don't see him without one of his parents. I think he is protected more because of his coloring being red. He is easier to spot than the girl who is the perfect green that seems to blend into any surrounding.

cardinal nestlings leave nest at 9 days old

The 3 nestlings are no more. They jumped ship yesterday at 9 days old (mockers left nest on day 12 last year). All 3 babes made it to the fledgling stage. They are all now in our backyard within the confinement of our 6 foot vinyl fence. We like to call it, the great big playground. They can flap their wings, jump around, investigate, and learn life lessons all they want in here and will be pretty safe. We already know papa and mama can handle a snake and the squirrel is around but the parents do not seem upset about it at this point, so we're not either. Mama and Papa have everything under control and I tell you they are a lot more discreet and quiet about it then the mocking birds ever were. They are very hush, hush and secretive. Most people wouldn't even know what was going on unless they were incredibly observant. Mama and papa zoom around very low to the ground, faster than a speeding bullet feeding and tending to their toddlers. When a baby tried to fly they are right there beside him encouraging as if it was their first baby steps. Very cute. The parents are working together quietly (the mockers bicker a lot) and seem content and at ease. As I shot these photos they very well knew I was right there. At first, they were a bit nervous but then they carried on like I didn't exist, feeding themselves at the feeder, looking for bugs, and feeding their fledgling right in front of me.

predators threaten nestlings

So it has been quite an exciting couple of days around here. Yesterday I came home to mama and papa cardinal going ballistic on a black snake slinking around their nest. Mama was fierce while papa took the backseat. Look at her, she looks like a raving maniac. That black snake could not get out quick enough. This morning, my husband tells me a squirrel is on our back deck. The squirrel has only been around a few weeks. Since our neighborhood is newly developed we had no trees for them for about 4 years. The oak trees the developer planted are now a good size and I guess they are starting to move in. I had read that squirrels will eat bird eggs but I had no idea they would eat nestlings! Sure enough as I grabbed my camera my husband sees him heading up the hibiscus tree trunk the nest is in! Hubby went flying out there and scared him away just in the nick of time. Makes me wonder if he has been there before and already has eaten some? Hubby went to see if he could see the babies because we have not since they were born. We haven't wanted to cause any unnecessary stress to mama and papa. As you can see, they have enough between predators and the rough grueling feeding schedule. But anyways, John went close and said papa was in the tree. Who knows when he was going to decide to react to the squirrel but hubby gave him no chance to have to. We were on it and quick! So now I am positioned so I can see the birds tree and as I type I am not even looking at the computer screen but out the window. The nestlings were born on the 25th. They are 6 days old now. I know there were at least 3 of them because I took a pic of the eggs. I didn't have a good view, there could have been more eggs in the deep nest. The baby from the previous brood has not been around since the babies were born. I read the parents probably gave him/her strict instructions to stay away. The fledgling was probably 4 weeks old though and was very independent already so hope to see him/her back when these new nestlings are old enough to allow sibling visits. Now I can see why their previous brood was only a family of 1, because of all these predators. Last year, all our 4 mocking bird babies lived through the fledgling stage when we lost track...not sure about the cardinals. Fingers crossed!

All this pics below are taken through our screen lanai about 30 feet away by my hubby who never even saw  what they were upset with till the pics were reviewed after the fact. 

Here is a link to more shots too.