Mockingbirds - Building The Nest

Mockingbirds - Building The Nest

A few years back I lived out in the country in a secluded area. Just outside of my front door, about 30 feet away, a pair of Mockingbirds built a nest in a scrawny
little Crape Myrtle. I got to watch the the whole process and enjoyed the experience.
On Sunday, May, 18th, I noticed that a pair of Mockingbirds were actually doing the same thing. About 50 feet away this time. And about the same height in the tree, 7 ft.
Only this time after I watched them for a couple of days I remembered my new video camera.
I was excited about maybe being able to catch the whole life process, from building the nest to the fledging. I started out by just setting the tripod up all day, close
to the tree. The next day I put on the camera and got a little closer. Filmed for about three hours on time lapse and stopped.
The next day I went out to set up the camera and realized that the nest was almost completely destroyed. Most of it on the ground below. I freaked a little and just went
away and watched for a while. The birds were still there and rebuilding the nest. But while I watched I noticed how violently the limb they were building on moved in
just the slightest wind. I decided not to dwell on it. Hell, they were the pros, not me.
I filmed for three days more. Then yesterday I went out to the beach to do some surf fishing. A friend was with me and we were pretty much in agreement
that it was just too windy to do any fishing. But we kept at it for a bit. I told him about the little "nest builders" I was filming. Eventually we gave up on the fishing and
went home.
When I got home I was going to film the last day of nest building before I waited for the egg to be layed. I watched for about 30 minutes and realized that the
birds were no where to be seen. Eventually I walked over to the tree and instantly noticed that the nest was almost completely destroyed and on the ground again.
This time I wasnt suprised. The wind was brutal all day long.
24 hours later and no sign of the Mockingbirds at all. Just gone. A lot of questions crossed my mind after I see that they deserted the nest. I can only assume that
they moved on to start a new nest.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• photography
• savannah
• birds
• mockingbirds
• nesting
• nest
• butch petty
• arthur
• home
• yard

[scarlette536]

Did you happen to notice or were you able to notice what materials they used for their nest? A nest fell into our yard a couple of days ago because of the wind. The birds had used dryer lint, string from something we had in our yard, and carpet pieces. This was the bottom layer. Very clever and would have been warm for the parents and the eggs/baby birds.

[misty260]

if the winds are so bad there maybe you should get a bird house for them. there are 2 bird nests under my car port. I love 2 watch the birds build the nest too :)