If at First You Don't Succeed

It didn't seem like a very good choice for a nest location to me.  Not that the nest itself wasn't well hidden in our lilac bush, but it was right over my flower garden.  

So, while I planted annuals and mulched, the mother Cardinal left the nest numerous times, even though I tried to be stealthy.  

Though I did my best not to disturb her, it turned out that I wasn't the problem!  A spring storm was.

On the morning of June 9th, I discovered the nest had blown into two pieces and fallen lower in the bush.  No eggs or babies were anywhere to be found.

You can see in the above photo that the nest separated where there was a liner of dried leaves.  Even though I didn't see any remains of eggs on the ground, I did see something else later in the day... mother Cardinal was gathering twigs for a new nest.  (In light rain and with dusk coming on, I might add!)

Of course I was curious where she would build her nest this time.  Would she have learned to go farther away from the house?

Well, no, she didn't, but she did switch from the south side of our house to the north.  And from a lilac bush to a Japanese red maple tree.

In almost no time at all, she had completed the second nest.  This time, it was right outside our dining room window, although once again, it couldn't be seen very well because of all the leaves.

The female Cardinal does the nest building and incubating, but her mate-for-life supports her by bringing food to her while she is on the nest.  He stays nearby and sings, too, letting her know what's going on in the area.  She sat thru lots of rain.  We've had 'rain forest' weather here this summer!  But I suppose that's also good for the insect population, which Cardinals eat a lot of.

Soon the babies were hatched.  Only two babies, perhaps because of the first failed nest.  Cardinals typically have from 2 to 5.

Now is when the male Cardinal really gets into the action, helping to feed the babies.  Ours brought moths and other insects, in fact- so often that the babies weren't always interested in eating them!  

Being so well fed, it didn't take these two babies long to grow up.

You can this this little guy already has a crest!

To help Mama and Papa, I put sunflower seeds for them to eat, on our deck railing which is only a few feet away from the nest.  (I had taken the bird feeders in after we had a bear visit, which you can read about here).

My husband was watching when the first baby left the nest on July 5th.  The second baby was not as eager to leave its cozy home, but I was watching when it left the following morning.

It didn't go far! Look closely and you can see it in the middle of the photo above.  It hung out in the maple tree most of the day.  I could hear lots of chipping going back and forth between the parents and this baby.    By late in the evening, they had all moved on... I could hear Cardinals singing in the nearby woods.

Which was a good thing.  It meant we could get on with a certain landscaping job we had been planning.  Removal of the tree!  It had gotten way too big for the location, and with a window replacement job coming up as well, it was time for it to go.

When the branch that held the nest came down, we got to take a closer look.

I wonder how many sticks are in there... and how many pine needles it took to line it?  No matter, a female Cardinal's job is to make a new one each time.  (although the male might bring sticks for her to use).

I'm happy that though our Cardinals weren't successful in their first try, that they 'tried again'.  And, I'm also happy with our more open deck.

Here's the 'before' photo...

 and... 'after'. 

Speaking of 'after'-- hopefully the Cardinal family will live 'happily ever after'.