so, pretty good holiday overall; Saturday got lots of weeding done (south side perimeter hadn't been done this year yet and I had mrsbrokensword helping! Yay!), then planted our annuals and some perennials, took out the remaining plants from the basement and they are in semi-shade getting used to the intensity of the sun, then out to dinner. We were both tired but the weather was mid to low 70s and just too nice to pass up working outside.
Spent Sunday lounging and setting up the stereo in the pond again before mrsbrokensword saw some 'motion' along one bank of the pond. Well, we're pretty good at spotting such now what with frogs and turtles and recently, a chipmunk found its way in, but it was none of those. For the past couple weeks we've been watching a cardinal family in the euonymus (INSIDE the pondhouse) and it was one of the chicks had fallen/jumped out! Sheesh, so scooped it up and returned it, noting the other nestling was not there, so spent some time looking but didn't find it. Kept looking for a bit, thinking it might have fallen outside the pondhouse, but no, still nothing.
Woke up Monday, set up for more pondhouse lounging and general shirking of responsibilities when mrsbrokensword noticed the cardinal parents were hovering outside near a corner. Sure enough, lil Jumpy had done it again. So, figuring it wasn't great to have it near the pond and the parents didn't look like they were going to come in (I'd pulled the roof screening over and there was less open space -- just that over the nest -- than before, I contemplated returning it once again to the nest. No, it would probably jump out again, so figured I'd move the nest to a nearby crabapple and let the parents fiind it there. Did that, and a couple hours later after messing with the iris (staking, pic taking), noticed Jumpy wasn't in the nest. It was pretty windy, so not sure if it was the nestling's idea or not, but couldn't find it. Then, we heard it and I followed, found it and once again, scooped it up. Wasn't sure what to do this time as putting it in the nest wasn't as sure as before. So, fenced the tree in and returned Jumpy to it, then waited. Sure enough, out he 'fell' but this time, couldn't go anywhere. Didn't know now what to do as we hadn't seen the parents all afternoon. I was googling and worrying I'D be the one to feed it. Jumpy is probably a week away from actually flying, I dunno--not a bird expert exactly--and has feathers but obviously isn't flying yet. Head is a bit weak on feathers but it hopped pretty decently!
Anyway, we watched and finally the mom found her fledgling and feeding is back in her domain! Just not sure what to do about tonight, but figure I'll put it back in the nest around dusk and hope it stays. Not sure if the mom will hang or not and am not sure how long that actually happens anyway. Definitely needs the help/protection though, so...
Crossing my fingers that tomorrow I don't wake up tomorrow morning and find the chicken wire enclosure empty!
