Bird Watching

One of the things I thought I'd miss about our house in Ruckersville is the amount of wildlife we had the opportunity to watch right outside our back door. While the animals we see here are not very exotic they are closer up than I expected. The bird feeders I keep on the back deck keep me happily birdwatching during the day. However, the biggest joy has been watching the nesting season come in. While the birds feed in the backyard they seem to love nesting in the front yard. I'm guessing we'll have a bunch of little baby birds (fingers crossed) here in 2 weeks or so.

The pictures are terrible because I had to take them through the window and the days have been endlessly rainy but you'll get the idea.

On one side of the porch we have robins nesting. They built on top of last year's nest and it's a great big messy heap of grass and twigs. It's not pretty at all. I haven't been able to catch the parents on the nest because it's so high up. I can say that the Papa robin keeps a very close eye on his mate never going farther than the yard across the street.

On the other porch post a mourning dove has set up her nest. She also built on top of last year's nest. She coos throughout the day and although I have no particular love for doves I do love the sound of them especially on a rainy day.

We have a rhododendron in front of one of our windows by the front porch and a cardinal has built a nest there. She has 3 eggs and is constantly on her nest only leaving a couple times a day to grab some food. She seems to enjoy the blossoms on the apple trees which are less than 20 feet from her nest. The shrub is so close to our window that when looking through she's maybe 18 inches away. The kids and I can't wait until those eggs hatch!

Wish us luck that we'll have some bird babies at the end of the month :)