It's a baby cardinal! And it just finally left the artificial ficus while it's parents called to it from a nearby tree! It's little "mohawk" is in, and the colors are that of a baby cardinal and not a cowbird. It just was very reluctant to leave the nest. Yesterday, it began to crawl out further onto the branches of the ficus, chip-chipping and a parent would answer back. The parents have spent so much time with this particular fledgling...I have to wonder about the safety of the other two. They're still out there. The male comes flying out from under our window shrubs when blackbirds are in the front yard and issues his "alert." What a relief...but now, that little chipmunk from next door! I started tossing seed balls into their own shrubbery to keep the chipmunk away and am using live mealworms and safflower. Might have to take down the suet, since the cowheads/blackbirds seem to like it far too much and come into territory where the fledglings are hiding. I read they will fly within 20 days. It's now 14 days since I first noticed the birds were hatched. They could have hatched before I saw them. So when should they begin to fly? I know the parents do stay with them and "train" them.. But that chipmunk! Thank you all for responding to my "cardinal adventure." What a lovely song they sing. : ) ...And I just watched the little guy hop off with both parents very near. I don't hear them now. Just so they're all safe!

It was so much fun to look at your photos! It looks like you had an enjoyable summer with your birds - and the cardinal youngsters are so adorable. Your landscape also looks pretty and very bird-friendly. It's neat to see what others have done with their space. By any chance, did you ever see where the cardinals' nest was? Just curious. We have had cardinals in and out of our yard here this summer, but I have never seen a nest or even seen them retreat to a particular space, they just come to the crabapple tree and make a quick run to the feeder, then back to the tree, and back to wherever their "homebase" is. You will no doubt be enjoying your cardinals throughout the winter, which will be fun. Thanks for sharing -

Ahhh, thanks everyone...there are some PERKS living in a state with WINTER!!! LOL! We lost our very old Maple trees out front & built an arbor there (about 8 -10' from LR windows)...we always fed birds from the maple tree closeby...now the birds have adapted to the arbor...so we are very happy about that! DH feeds 'em, I take pics & help build birdhses & feeders! OA ... my camera is about 3 or 4 yrs. old now...it's my second digital & I love it.. I can set it manually or auto...I use auto alot of the time. It is a Sony DSC-H5 Super SteadyShot ... has a 12x optical zoom built in...a very user-friendly camera...they probably have made a newer version by now but this one is good for me. Also I use software to fix pics if they need it...and Photobucket has that "edit" where anyone can fix up pics, too..I use it sometimes. My computer crashed (for the 2nd time in a few mos) so my old software will not work on the new computer I am getting with Windows 7. So, ugh! Will see what happens! Anyway, I'm rattling...thanks, gals, for lookin' & commenting! Jeanne S.

My husband named our most frequent mockingbird visitor Car Alarm. One year, a neighbor went on a vacation. His car, parked on the street near our house, has an especially obnoxious alarm that malfunctioned. It went off numerous times, day and night, for about 12 days. Even with ear plugs, it permanently damaged my hearing. It also made quite an impression on Car Alarm. We have heard an encore every mating season four years running....and counting. B.J. (Brave Jay) was a scrub jay that would take peanuts from hand. I miss him! Another scrub jay lost all of his tail feathers for a while. We named him Lucky. Bill was a scrub jay that had only half an upper mandible. Inspector Nut (below) was a Nuttall's woodpecker that would resize the entrance holes of every one of our birdhouses, then choose his favorite. Every evening at sunset, he would fly in and enter that house to roost for the night. Those are just a few we named!