A Cardinalis, of course, not a Cyclone-- On May 8, I accidentally discovered a cardinal's nest in a roll of woven wire near my garden. It was actually in plain sight, with no leaf or branch cover, but very well hidden, and safe from a coon's or cat's paw. The female flew off the nest because I had gotten too close. The male was dead, hung up a few inches away, maybe a few feathers too big to negotiate the wire maze. There were two eggs, looking alike. On May 16 there were 2 hatchlings, maybe hatched the day before. On May 18, there was 1 young, gaping widely and wildly. On May 24, 8 p.m., the baby was hunkered down in the nest & the female parent and a male (where'd he come from?) scolded me. On May 25, 7 p.m. the nest was empty, clean, & in perfect condition.
I've been wondering--would the female have stopped laying eggs because her mate had died? How often does a single parent go it alone in the bird world? Only 1 young & my bird feeder close by would have made a lot of difference here. Gary Ritchison, in his popular "monograph" on the northern cardinal (Stackpole Books), says cardinals are socially monogamous but will mate with another. As many cardinals as I have around my yard it wouldn't have been hard for a male to notice a single female. I never saw it help feed so I don't know if he was involved with the nest. Cardinals are the first species to come to my bird feeders in the morning, & the last to leave at dusk, "wringing" every ounce of daylight out of a day. Cardinal eggs incubate in about 12 days & young fledge in 10 or 11. So maybe this "brood" was a success. Carl Nollen, s.e. Polk County --- Please contribute your sightings to our list; it is only as good as members make it! --- Birding channel recommendation for FRS/GMRS radio use: Primary selection; channel 5/0 , alternate selection; channel 6/0 --- This mailing list is sponsored by the Iowa Ornithologists' Union. Membership available on-line at http://www.iowabirds.org/iou/membership.asp. ----- You are currently subscribed to ia-bird as: [email protected]
