Adventures in Natureland
{the blog}
{July 19, 2011}
I was waiting for my group to show up at the challenge course (here at the camp where I'm working) when suddenly a baby bird landed on the ground and started fluttering around, trying to fly. Needless to say, this aroused quite a bit of interest in both Ashley (my co-worker) and myself. We quickly approached and found a young bird with bald patches on it's head but with a pretty complete set of flight feathers.
So why was the bird out of its nest? Simply because it was learning to fly. Birds are shoved out of the nest earlier than you would expect. If they were humans, they would only be 13 or 14 years old. This little bird was able to get several inches off the ground, but he could only stay up for a distance of about two feet. (He's still working on it.)
The bird was sitting right in the middle of the main walkway to enter the challenge course, so we decided to move him back over into the bushes. He chirped and chirped when I picked him up, but calmed down when I cupped my hands around him. I set him down by the bushes, where he chirped some more. Then I heard another bird chirping back at him. I looked up to see that it was a female cardinal. And every time the baby bird chirped, the female replied. Then, as the baby was making another attempt at flight, the female flew down beside him. Well, I thought, at least now we know who you belong to. A baby cardinal.
I looked up to see the group of campers on their way. Worried that the children would disturb him, I chased him up into the bushes, where he settled quietly against a fallen branch.
So, here's the Vital Statistics
- Think it's weird for a bird to hatch in July? Well, the breeding season for northern cardinals lasts from March through September, so think again.
- Breeding pairs may remain together throughout the year, breeding together for several seasons in a row.
- Life goes fast for young cardinals. Chicks hatch after 11-13 days of incubation, and leave the nest 7-13 days after that. The parents will continue to feed them for up to 56 days.
- So, what did mom make for lunch? Baby cardinals are fed a diet mostly consisting of insects.
- Juveniles begin breeding when just one year old.
Resource? Chris Jaworoski, Outdoor Alabama website.
http://www.outdooralabama.com/watchable-wildlife/what/Birds/passerines/nc.cfm
