House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus) Nest (Part 2)

Please note this story has a sad and tragic ending. If you do not like these kind of stories, feel free to skip this post. Happening at the same time as the destroyed mallard duck nest (blog post here), I had a pair of House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) nest in my backyard. Sadly, this story ended even sadder than the story about the ducks... I will be splitting this story into a 2 part post.

Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To view my best backyard photography for 2013 and 2014, use this link. To view my best bird photos for 2014, use this link. To see all of my 2014 backyard photography photos, use this link.

Part 1 | Part 2 |

Part 2 will just be House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) chicks hatching, begging for food, and dying.

Photo shot on 4-9-2014. First chick hatched. 

Photo shot on 4-9-2014. Later that evening, another chick has hatched.  

Photo shot on 4-10-2014. Four out of the five chicks has hatched.  

 Photo shot on 4-10-2014. A more in focus shot of a baby house finch chick. 

Photo shot on 4-11-2014. All of the chicks has hatched. 

Photo shot on 4-12-2014. 

Photo shot on 4-13-2014. As they grew bigger, it was harder and harder to focus on them with my Nexus 5 camera due to the limited space above the nest. 

Photo shot on 4-14-2014. I decided it would be easier to focus and photograph the reflection using a mirror. I was going to use this mirror for macro photography of bugs, but I guess it is good in tight places too. 

Photo shot on 4-16-2014. The little chicks aren't fooled by my phone or hand, but somehow them seeing their own reflection seems to confuse them and they open their mouth to beg for food. 

More photos shot on 4-16-2014. By now, they have grown enough, I no longer needed to do a top down view when they have their necks up begging for food. I'd use the mirror to trick them and then stick my phone up for a photo. 

Photo shot on 4-16-2014. 

Photo shot on 4-18-2014. This is the last photo of them alive. That weekend I was busy with other stuff and a photo shoot so I ended up not keeping a close eye on them. 

Photo shot on 4-21-2014. I should have suspected something was wrong when none of them reacted to my mirror when I stuck it up there to try to get them to stick their necks up. I thought they were sleeping that day...

Photo shot on 4-22-2014. This day, I went up for a closer inspection with my mirror. Sure enough, the birds were laying perfectly still in the same positions as the day before. I knew something was wrong. I broke off a tree branch from a bush in my yard and poked them with it. Checked again, no movement. I knew they were dead. Thinking back to the weekend, I didn't see the parent birds come back. Also checking my yard and the surrounding neighbor's bird feeder, the House Finches (Carpodacus mexicanus) community (around 10 to 20 of them) are no where to be found. They aren't hanging out at their normal places either. I concluded a cat or maybe a raccoon (many of them in this neighborhood) must have killed the population in this area. I cut the rope I used to secure the nest in place, took them down for one last photo before I disposed of them. Can't bury them because it will just be dinner for something in this neighborhood... I know if I buried them, they will become something's meal because the corpses have already started stinking. Since this day, I haven't heard a house finch call or seen one in my yard or the surrounding yards... So sad. 

I hope I didn't make you too sad with this story... These are all the photos for today. Please don't forget to share the blog post with your friends and family members! Also, if you want to get notifications when I post up more photos, "Like" us on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Instagram. These links can also be found on the top of the right sidebar.

Part 1 | Part 2 |

Baby Robin

I have to admit. These photos was actually taken during May of 2011. They got mixed in with my Taiwan photos and I was really busy (and a bit lazy ROFL) so I didn't find time to organize and pick out the ones I was going to post. I finally got the photos from Taiwan all sorted out. Expect them to be posted soon. :) Anyways, today I want to share with you some baby robin photos. Last year, there was this robin that nested in my backyard and I got a really good look at the babies and took some great photos. They are really cute so I hope you enjoy viewing them!

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Full Resolution Photos and Prints: If you want to see full resolution photos or buy prints of any of the photos you see, they are up on my portfolio for viewing. To see my best bird photos from 2011, use this link. To see my best 2011 and 2012 backyard photos, use this link. To see all of my 2011 backyard photos, use this link.

The photos are of the American Robin (Turdus migratorius)

Here is a photo of the nest.

There was 2 chicks. 

Anyways, continuing my story... Well apparently later I tried to take a photo with my phone, and that scared one of the chicks out... It tried to fly, but apparently fell slowly to the ground. I caught up with it (it managed to run to the other side of my yard!) and put it back in the nest. Nothing bad happened. Later that afternoon I saw the momma bird teaching the one that fell out how to fly. She didn't seem to care I touched her baby. So... and they all returned that night. No abandonment, but they didn't come back to the nest to lay the eggs this year. :( Maybe it was because of me, oh well, I got a bunch of finch nests in my yard. :D I think the robin moved into my neighbor's home, because I see a lot of robins flying around their house now. 

Momma bird back with food?

Yep she had food. LOL Bird butt...

The baby chick looking at me. The photos aren't in order. The first 3 photos was taken with my cellphone. I obviously couldn't fit my DSLR up in that little space. One benefit for tiny cameras. The rest was done with my Olympus (my old DSLR). 

Anyways, you would be surprised at how much finch and sparrow nest in my yard. I see them in my front yard and backyard everyday. I guess they love the free food. ROFL I usually leave my parakeets outside during the day time, and boy do the wild birds love coming for the spilled food. My parakeets probably spill half of what I put in. 

Both of them are looking at me now. ^_^ Cute

This what the robin did after I put it back into the nest. I guess it was scared.

Momma bird teaching him/her how to fly. 

I hope you have enjoyed viewing these cute photos. I'll try to get more baby bird photos if I can. There is a finch nest in my yard I can see very well, however it is too high for me to reach. Don't want to disturb the birds, but I'll try to spot out more nests in my yard. Please share this blog post with your friends, and any bird lovers you know! Thanks for viewing! See you next time.