Mama, where art thou?
All day long yesterday, my family and I watched as a family of young Mockingbird nestlings underwent the transition phase of their life, where they were unceremoniously dumped on the ground from the safety of the nest, only to lay stunned until mama and papa swooped in to chirp out new directions and set them on a path to independence. Three babies that plopped out of a nest right next to our home, so my husband, children and I watched with interest and admiration as the bird family took the necessary steps over the next hours to ensure the youngsters’ survival. At times, it looked as though one or more might not make it–they sat shivering, bobbing, and cheeping near each other, but then, every so often, one of the parents would swoop in, bring them a morsel, and encourage them to traverse across the lawn to relative safety, though it must have looked like a football field of distance on such new, unsteady legs! This little guy above apparently only made it halfway across the lawn when he stopped. I saw him at a distance and after realizing he was not simply a mound of leaves in the grass, grabbed my telephoto to capture a true baby bird’s eye view. After I clicked a few frames, I backed off a bit, and sure enough, mama approached, she fed him an energy snack, and then he was off–hopping and bopping toward the brush to reunite with the rest of the clan. Several more shots of the family’s activities yesterday can be seen below. Hope you enjoy!
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