June 11, 2005

The young cardinal has been in the pond area and on the porch a great deal today, mostly by himself. I suspect his parents have cut him loose. I haven't seen him try to use the feeder yet, though he often sits on top of it, but I have watched him try to get nourishment from empty sunflower shells. I know that he will catch on eventually.

In other bird news, this morning on the way back from our walk, we saw a quail family in the driveway--mama and papa and five little babies. They were past the fluffball stage, but still pretty young, and quite adorable. I'm assuming that they are the second batch of offspring for the season.

The doves are at it again, too. Yesterday afternoon I needed to get something out of one of the boxes on a shelf in the carport. I was rummaging around when suddenly a panicked dove exploded up and out from the side of the box. Well, it was the same shelf that held the original nest, and it may be the same dove. The nest seems to have been augmented, and holds two little white eggs. Mama eventually returned and was unobtrusively brooding this morning. I bet she wishes I would go away.