The Juncos are gone :(
Its been a stressful week with the junco babies. earlier on I had to water the planter they live in which I try to do very carefully so as not to disturb but it spooked them and all three spilled out onto the grass. (If I don't water the plant it wilts and the birds are exposed and around here, crows rule the sky and eat little critters. So, as I said, they flipped out of the planter and darted in three different directions, the momma junco, freaked out and started chirping madly and darted about, while I tried to catch the babies and put them back in the planter. I caught one, put it back in, briefly saw where the other went and then to my horror, plop, into the pool. Horrified, I waded into the pool fully clothed, up to my boobs, and retrieved the baby who was speeding across quite well. Put it back into the nest. Then tried to find the other one, for about an hour. Could NOT find it. I felt so badly I just cried. I went inside the house to change my wet clothes and came back out to watch the momma and poppa junco still stress-fully trying to settle down and repeatedly checking the nest. Then the oddest thing happened. On the porch, bout 14 feet away I have a wrought iron plant stand with arms sprouting out to hold potted plants. Its a nice perchy place for birdies but generally speaking they don't use it because it is so close to the house and dreaded people! So as I sat there just quietly observing and thinking about what had transpired, both momma junco and pappa junco landed on it and hopped around and around and over to the ten foot work table I have across from it. and then, down to the ground and back up and back to the plant stand flitting about, all the while chirping their now familiar chirp while I watched them. I remained sitting there for the longest time while the juncos stayed in my vicinity, hopping around and gingerly getting closer and closer to me. I was somewhat dumbfounded by this. The porch is held up by several open beams. One of the juncos, I think the momma (she is a little plumpier) hopped to the end of the beam, which is kitty corner to the table I was sitting at, almost within touching distance and stared at me and chirped. It was as if she was trying to make a connection. I was very moved by this, she stared for about 60 seconds and in terms of wild birds, that is a long and determined amount of time!
After that I calmed down about the situation and periodically checked outside for the missing baby. While doing some yard work, in my peripheral vision I saw the baby hopping behind the parent junco out by the planter and so I knew it was okay, still, I did not want it to stay out in the open over night because of predators, but once again could not find it and let nature take its course. Maybe the momma kept trying to feed it in its new hiding place. And, hopefully it lived.
So, the following day I went and bought some bird seed and set it in a dish out by the bird bath not far from where the nest was, hoping that the juncos would like that particular seed which they do and have been pecking at it continuously along with several other finchs, orange breasted blue birds, squirrels and wood peckers (they are really cool looking). I scare the crows away when them come about.
I peered into the planter a few times to make sure the babies were still there and they were also evidenced by the momma continuing to bring them food. Yesterday, one popped out on the ground unexpectedly and tried to hide but there is no other foliage for it to hide under, just grass which worries me since they are so vulnerable in the open. I found it and put it back in the nest and that was that.
This morning I got on the treadmill (on the porch by the plant stand) about 7:30 (nice and cool) and watched the birds hit the seed and drink from the bird bath (all very entertaining to me) and realized I did not see the familiar black hooded juncos nor did I hear their familiar chirp. So, I got off the tread and went to the planter to see if the babies were still in there, both are gone. I am hoping it was just their time to leave the nest and guess the both momma and pappa junco are near by. I'll be keeping watch today to see if I see them any where on the property. I miss them and I hope they return in a fully grown state.
After that I calmed down about the situation and periodically checked outside for the missing baby. While doing some yard work, in my peripheral vision I saw the baby hopping behind the parent junco out by the planter and so I knew it was okay, still, I did not want it to stay out in the open over night because of predators, but once again could not find it and let nature take its course. Maybe the momma kept trying to feed it in its new hiding place. And, hopefully it lived.
So, the following day I went and bought some bird seed and set it in a dish out by the bird bath not far from where the nest was, hoping that the juncos would like that particular seed which they do and have been pecking at it continuously along with several other finchs, orange breasted blue birds, squirrels and wood peckers (they are really cool looking). I scare the crows away when them come about.
I peered into the planter a few times to make sure the babies were still there and they were also evidenced by the momma continuing to bring them food. Yesterday, one popped out on the ground unexpectedly and tried to hide but there is no other foliage for it to hide under, just grass which worries me since they are so vulnerable in the open. I found it and put it back in the nest and that was that.
This morning I got on the treadmill (on the porch by the plant stand) about 7:30 (nice and cool) and watched the birds hit the seed and drink from the bird bath (all very entertaining to me) and realized I did not see the familiar black hooded juncos nor did I hear their familiar chirp. So, I got off the tread and went to the planter to see if the babies were still in there, both are gone. I am hoping it was just their time to leave the nest and guess the both momma and pappa junco are near by. I'll be keeping watch today to see if I see them any where on the property. I miss them and I hope they return in a fully grown state.