Baby Bird Update #1: A Half-Empty Nest

Well, I went out yesterday morning to check on our little baby birds and I think for a moment my heart stopped!  This is what I saw:

Only one bird! 

What could have happened to the other one?  The temperature had dropped down into the 50’s overnight.  Had it been too cold for the little bird?  Did something snatch it from it’s hiding place in the tree branches?  I had no way of knowing.

I left to do something else and came back a few minutes later.  This time I noticed a lot of chirping around the tree and the chirping seemed to be coming from all directions!  The parent birds had definitely noticed that their baby was gone!  I could see the Daddy bird on a nearby branch chirping his little heart out.  He looked right at me and it was almost like he was begging me to help.  I thought I heard some chirping coming from the ground so I looked down:

Found!  What a relief!

I inspected the nest again, and it was at a precarious angle.  Obviously the little baby bird had slipped out.  I’m really not an animal person.  I didn’t want to touch the bird.  So I ran for Papa the Farmer.  He gently picked the baby bird up.  As soon as Papa the Farmer’s hands came near the bird, his little beak opened wide for a worm.  Poor, hungry little guy (or girl?)!  Too bad I didn’t get a picture of that!

So Papa the Farmer returned Baby Birdie to his nest.  We also tried to straighten the nest so the birdies won’t fall out again.  All this time, the Daddy Bird stood on his perch watching.  He stopped chirping… in fact all the birds stopped chirping…  and seemed quite thankful to have his baby back!

What happened to the nest to put it as such a dangerous angle?  I can’t say for sure, but the other day Papa the Farmer was cutting the grass.  He rode his tractor close to the tree, bumped against some of the branches and that’s when one of the babies fell out the first time.  Perhaps the nest never got straightened out enough to be safe and the winds from the night before shook the branches, moving the nest.  Of course, I’m just guessing.  We’ll never really know what happened to the nest.  We just know that the baby birds are back together now, safe and sound.

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