Bird Watching: Now, if this don't beat all..., 1 by SusanLouise

SusanLouise wrote:
Hello All,

Well, what can I say...the Cardinal family as of today is no more. A HOSP thwarted the family from their 2nd brood in our honeysuckle. Crap! Guess our place is the "no nesting zone" :/
I have pics that go back from the 3rd of June when the female started to build her nest and the male was bringing the little juvie "Miss" around our gardens for grub and to be close to the new nesting site.
As of last night, our security camera showed a male HOSP follow her into the nest. She managed to escape, but never returned...not that I blame her...big sad sigh.
She went from having 2 eggs on the 10th, then to 4 eggs on the 11th...(not 3 eggs, then to 4 eggs). That next day, the 12th, I watched her with my own eyes fly off 2 times with an egg each time. I'm like "What the...???"
My initial thought was that maybe a female Cowbird laid 2 eggs and she got rid of them. I couldn't believe she got rid of 2 of her own if she just laid them. I also did some research and found out that Cowbird eggs, although they look about the same, they are a bit smaller.
Ok, I thought...then I went back and looked at the pics. Darn if I can tell the difference! So last night, the 13th, at about 8:04pm, the male HOSP did his business...@#$% Sparrow! AGH! :(
She never returned. I was out all day today on the patio hoping to hear her in the distance...nope, only the male and about a block north of here now. Well, I hope she will have peace there...poor thing. Well, at least we know what happened and why she abandoned her nest, and it wasn't due to anything we did to scare her at all. Unfortunately, the nest still has 2 eggs in it.
I'll post 4 pics...one of "Mama C" in her "Room with a View"...
And the 3 pics of the eggs in the nest...(the 2 initial eggs, then 4, then the 2 that were left)...
I would appreciate any input on what ya'll might think about the eggs...and why she would have removed 2 so fast from the nest. They look all the same to me, but I'm no expert...thanks :)

This is "Mama C" on her nest in the honeysuckle...






This message was edited Jun 14, 2010 11:59 PM