New Neighbors

One thing I love about sitting on the porch is seeing my favorite tree, a miniature Japanese maple we inherited from the previous owners. It's a lovely, delicate tree that hasn't grown much in the last eleven years, but always blooms every spring with lots of little, pretty leaves. The leaves also start turning a blazing scarlet red in the fall before they fall and the tree goes to sleep for the winter. The other day I noticed something in the branches that on closer inspection turned out to be a tiny nest:



I thought it might be a hummingbird nest (we have a silvery blue variety in the neighborhood), but as I got closer I saw it was a little too big for that:



The nest was situated over my head, so I had my guy get the ladder so we could see what was inside:



The nest was quite skillfully made from oak twigs, spanish moss and some pine needles, and the eggs are really small:



I sat and waited to see who would come back to sit on them, and heard a very familiar cheeping when Mama arrived:



I got my confirmation that it was her nest when she settled down in it:



Then Papa arrived to scold me for being too close (and I have only been able to photograph him once before this):



So the nest belongs to the neighborhood's cardinals, who are regular visitors to our feeders, but have never nested near us before now. I love cardinals, and we all feel immensely flattered that they'd set up their nursery so close to the house. In about eleven to thirteen days I hope to show you what baby cardinals look like.

The Gems

An update on our latest front yard drama; Octomom decided to deposit another egg in her nest to make this her third batch of twins:



She also really didn't care for me snapping shots of her with the camera, so I left her alone for the last weeks of June. During which time these little darlings hatched:



Like their many sibs before them, the babies are very quiet and never utter a peep. Their mom leaves them alone for only short periods of time so I had to be quick and take these pics when she left one morning to grab breakfast.



This nest is in a tricky position, so in order not to disturb them I've stopped watering the plant. It may not survive this time, but one look at these little faces makes it worth losing one sweet potato vine.



Because they're so identical I've named them Castor and Polydeuces. Cute, yes?