from the desk: Baby Birds

The lawn folks cut back a bunch of trees and bushes around our house earlier today, and afterwards I went out to see what all they had cut, and I found this exposed nest. I took a picture of it from the side, and then held my phone up to get a shot of the top of the nest, and was surprised to find two little babies in the picture (I am short)! It seems I woke them up and they started squawking at me.

the cats love that window for bird watching

I wanted to leave them alone but I watched them from inside, and discovered that they are cardinal chicks, and mom (light brown) and pop (bright red) were not far away. I grabbed my actual nice camera tried to get some interaction pictures at a distance, but the parents didn't want to go close while I was out there. I watched them for a while and watched some more from inside. Through all of this I learned I should really use my camera more. It takes good pictures, especially outside. The iphone is just so darn convenient, and the camera on it is really good for a phone. I also learned our neighbors have Dish network. I hope the birdies do alright! I'll keep an eye out for them but we leave early Saturday morning. Remind me to tell you the story about my siblings and I, freshly moved from CA to PA, trying to save a near-dead opossum by our house one morning before the school bus came to pick us up (what do we do? Go get dad! Stall the bus!). We did not know how rampant road kill was in PA, nor how little people care about opossums, and have since been desensitized.