Birdland

Been keeping an eye on the sitting redbird in the Queen Palm these past eleven days, checking at least two times each day to see what was going on with mama and her three eggs. She couldn’t have been away from the nest more than two or three times in that stretch of days. I can remember only two times she wasn’t there when I crept close to have a look. I sort of lost count of the days since I first discovered the eggs and was beginning to think they were overdue for hatching. No such thing because when I looked this morning I found no mama but three newly hatched, wrinkled and brownish-pink hatchlings curled up in a ball. I say three but it’s a little hard to tell if that small mass in the nest is two or three babies. And today being the eleventh day since I first saw the eggs, they are right on time, hatching just when the expert said they would.

I’ve seen the mother and her mate fluttering in and out and around the nest several times today and I’m guessing they are bringing insects for the baby birds to eat. From the look of the babies you’d think they would have to force feed them for the time being. They look pretty inert there in the bottom of the nest. I understand that their food at this stage is exclusively insects because of the higher protein needed to sustain their accelerated growth rate while so young. Once they fledge they will begin to feed on seeds, fruits and berries. They won’t have far to go to reach the feeder hanging from my camphor tree full of  Black-oil Sunflower seeds.