Pics and a story!

[kayre]

This summer we had just one pair of cardinals at our feeders. They followed the usual pattern-- arriving separately at first, and then clear courting behavior, with the male taking food to the female in the trees or checking out the feeders before she came forward. Then there was a week or so when they only fed separately, so I knew they were likely tending eggs. I was disappointed when they started feeding together again, as that usually means the babies haven't made it. But several weeks later, they started showing up one at a time, but with one or two juveniles.



And here they are-- male and female juveniles





I didn't pay much attention to the fact that mostly just one parent came with the babies for the rest of the summer. But this week, the two juveniles turned up without the parents-- but with a much younger juvenile, whom they feed! I think this must be baby sister from a second brood!