Northern Mockingbird Nestlings
On June 2, 2005 the Northern Mockingbird’s in our backyard Autumn Flame Maple Tree fledged. They do not really fly right away. They come out and hop around on the ground.
I was expecting them to be ready anytime then and through that weekend. In the morning we found one baby out of the nest under the tree. Frank put the baby back into the nest, as we know that is alright when not sure if it’s “time” yet. Not too long later there were two babies out, so that was it. 🙂
There were 4 babies that hatched and grew, but only three fledged. I got out the ladder after three were out but no other sounds coming from the nest for awhile.
The fourth baby was there, maybe strangled trying to get out? In any case, it was fully as grown as the others, and limp, dead, head wedged in and out of some sticks … poor thing.
We watched the birds all that day, and the most energetic baby popped under a low spot on the fence line and dissapeared. The remaining two babies stayed in the yard until late in the day, then they too dissapeared.
We haven’t seen them flying about yet, hope to see them, or some other baby Northern Mockingbirds sometime soon!
The pictures above are of the nest and the babies in the yard. Three babies in total, just different views of them. Forgive the blurryness, my digital isn’t so hot on close-ups sometimes. 🙁