Try here

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/bird

Thanks! Not sure why bird topic didn't come up when I searched earlier.

no bird expert here.. but i have seen them in my yard in MI ... and i call the bird a sparrow .. which would probably make an experts head spin.. lol ...

what birds are in your area generally ...and obviously.. smaller birds ..

lets us know what they say in the other forum ... or link us ...

ken

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffsb&q=sparrow+eggs&ia=images&iax=images

duh.. lol

look familiar?

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=sparrow+&t=ffsb&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

I thought maybe it was a song sparrow too Ken but I don't know much about this topic either. Tsugajunkie is correct! I only know this because I just saw female cardinal at the nest! Thanks you guys are the best!

take a lawn chair.. and your favorite adult beverage .. and sit 10 feet away or so ... and just watch what flies in and out ... they will get used to you after a few bottles of wine or a case of beer .. lol ... do it when they are active.. like dusk ...

my point was ... start watching the birds in the yard.. at least to the point you have a general idea of what flying around ... its part of nature.. and part of your garden ... i mean.. who else is going to plant prefertilized seeds all over the garden???

i never considered cardinal .. as the nest in the pic looks small for the relatively large Cs i have around ... but you cant get a scale in there.. here are the eggs:

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=cardinal+eggs&t=ffcm&iax=images&ia=images

hey.. your hand is in the pic.. looks pretty small for a cardinal nest ... hard to imagine 3 babe Cs in that nest .... just before momma launches them out ...

ken

Ken I think the hand in the foreground throws off the scale.

Adri look at pix of cowbird eggs in a cardinal nest as that one egg looks suspicious.

tj

Might want to be even further than 10 feet if it's cardinals - they are very shy, IMPE, and will abandon their nest if they feel threatened. Binoculars are helpful for spying from a distance.

speaking of cardinals ..... i couldnt figure out.. why some times i had males all over the place.. driving me insane with their mating calls ... until i realized i had a red wheelborrow.. that i occasionally left at an on going project ... which attracted them .. lol .. it got to the point i could mimic the call.. and attract them .. i had one that i think i turned on big time.. lol ... he would answer endlessly ...

almost as bad as when i had an orange ball cap.. and the hummers would keep buzzing my head.. nothing is more exhilarating.. than have a hummer flying around your head.. sounding like an F16 .. lol ..

as to 10 feet away.. i was thinking about the little brown birds.. i would hope you could see the larger brownish red female cardinal from further away.. regardless .. i was encouraging OP to learn to relax and bird watch.. until the adult beverage made them fall out of the chair.. and then they crawled into the house to bed .. lol ...

so.. what the cowbird thing junkie.. one of those beasts that foster their children in someone elses nest???? .. got a quick easy link??? .. he said.. being rather lazy .. what is it with where you live.. everything has cow in the name.. your favorite beer.. spotted cow.. a cow bird.. crikey dude .. whats the deal up there ... God help us if i ask about the favorite local pie ... rotflmbo .... whats hanging in the church steeple ... boy this is a rich vein of material ...

ken

ps: ...MORE COW BELL .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVsQLlk-T0s

Well Ken, this is Wiscowsin after all.

tj

Thanks for the laughs and chuckles boys!

yw peren

i also noticed more cardinals.. when i flew the flag .. anything with red ...

and mentioned it to a neighbor who had a garden flag with lots of red.. and she agrees the cardinals were hanging around more ..

ken

Hi, ken: my name is david huang regarding the mango tree. I put more details on it. Could you mind going to my side to take looking at it? Thank you.

tj I hope it's not a cowbird egg lol but nature's scary... One of the creepiest videos I've ever seen is a Cuckoo bird pushing out the host bird's eggs and chicks out of the nest.

Anybody ever shake/addle a cowbird egg? I'm assuming it is illegal though.

Since they are native birds, yes it is illegal...by the book.

tj

I've been watching with binoculars about a hundred feet away. I saw a squirrel (I just discovered there are five baby squirrels living in the tree next to us) approach the nest and the cardinals going crazy so I ran over to help scare off the squirrel. I don't think the squirrel even knew there was a nest there though. I took a pic while I was there but it didn't come out clearly. I saw three fuzzy pink babies. They all look the same to me lol.

Keep an eye on the squirrels. I had one trash a cardinal nest with eggs this year.

tj

I will thanks !I'm a bit protective because I exposed the nest a little from removing invasive bush honeysuckle. I strategically put layered weak branches around it so it should be OK.

Sad update. I noticed three babies in the nest at first. Then there seemed to be only two and today there are none. I looked on the ground hoping to find them but I didn't see any. I feel bad because if I hadn't been clearing that area and exposed the nest, they might have been alive today. Maybe I should have relocated the nest.

I saw the parents chasing a catbird away. Could that have been the culprit? Or maybe it was five(!) young grey squirrels that have recently come out of a tree not too far away? So sad!

Well, the chicks do leave the nest before they can fly and the parents entice them away...so maybe...

tj

They only had peach fuzz and could barely raise their heads but thank you for the positivity. So sad.