Friday, August 20, 2010

Proud Papa


On Wednesday afternoon, between rain showers, the birds would come in droves to the bird feeders... I sat inside and took about 65 pictures... Usually I get about 10 that are good --but yesterday, almost all of them turned out good... SO--I will have lots of bird photos to publish in future posts.

Today I am featuring a very proud Daddy Cardinal and his two babies --who are learning to feed themselves. Above is the Proud Papa. He looks like alot of parents of babies.. I'm sure he is TIRED... And he is molting --so his red color is changing. Below are more pictures of the family.




Daddy Cardinal says to one of the babies: "Follow me, Honey!" (The babies are both as large as their Daddy. That's typical of many baby birds.)




"Aren't I just gorgeous???? BUT--what do I do now that I'm here?" (NOTE: Baby Cardinals don't have red beaks --like Mom and Dad do.)




Oops..... A loud Blue Jay flew down and 'spooked' Baby Cardinal....




Poor Daddy Cardinal is molting.... And have you noticed that he looks like he was wet from the rain--and that the babies are dry??? That is one good Daddy---keeping his babies dry when it rains...

NOW--look at Baby Cardinal.. When he wants Daddy to feed him, he cocks his head... See him???? Is that not sweet?




I got several good shots of Daddy feeding the babies... This one tickled me since it looks like Daddy is putting his beak WAY down into Baby's throat!!!!




This is the only 'almost' clear picture I got of both Baby Cardinals together. I love this picture since you can tell the differences in the two babies. The one on the left is a male. See the reddish color on his head.... The one on the right is a female. I love looking at the differences.

Hope you enjoyed seeing the Cardinal family. Mama Cardinal is never anywhere to be found when the babies are learning to eat. Teaching them to feed themselves is Daddy's job --and this Daddy is doing a good job, don't you think????

Have a wonderful weekend. I'll blog again on Monday!!!
Hugs,