I attached the BirdCam to an old piece of Bamboo, then secured it to the other Bamboo branches above the nest.

This is not the same nest that also had 2 Cardinal eggs.  It’s on a completely different side of the yard.  Fortunately, it’s also in a location that is a little further away from the pool (in the other Cardinal nest, one of the fledglings flew into the pool and drowned).

BirdCam Setup On Second Cardinal Nest

I also have 2 videos to share.  This first video was shot right after I positioned the BirdCam.

You can see the 2 eggs, then Mama Cardinal flies in and sits on the nest.  She looks a little curious about the BirdCam positioned above her, but doesn’t appear to be stressed.

In this second video, Mama Cardinal has repositioned herself and is just incubating her eggs.

In the first “Gallery” I am posting, it is a slideshow of my backyard, starting from almost 7 years ago, until today.  It hopefully will give you a feel for what was in my head when I originally saw the backyard I had to work with, and where I wanted to go with it.

I plan on putting some additional “Galleries” within the next few weeks.

Let me know what you think!

They’ve almost got all of their feathers now!

I doubt they’ll still be in the nest for longer than a week.  I’m hoping (although I’ll have to have perfect timing) to get some video shots of when they first leave the nest.

Below is a brief video showing the baby birds resting, then going crazy when one of the parents comes by to deliver some food.

Baby Cardinals Open Their Eyes

Not only did their eyes open, but they also have learned to poop apparently. Watch the video around the 18 second area.

It’s not just the daddy Cardinal that swallows the poop, mamma does her part as well.

I’ve just read that only a few North American Songbirds sing, but the female Cardinal does in fact sing.  I witnessed that this morning.  The momma bird was just waking up and started to do some brief tweets to the male.  Within moments, the male Cardinal brought some food for the babies.  He then left, and momma bird returned, fed the babies herself, then settled on top of the babies to keep them warm.  She then just started singing.  It was quite cute to watch.  Unfortunately I don’t have any video of that.

The Cardinal nest typically takes 3-9 days to build.  The typically numbers of eggs is 2-5.  Northern Cardinals are serially monogamous, but up to 20% will not be together the following year.

Cardinals tend to have about 2 nests per year, but according to http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/information/Cardinalis_cardinalis.html the second nest is often parasitized by Brown Headed Cowbirds.

The Cardinal Chicks typically leave the nest after only 7-13 days after hatching, but the adult parents will continue to feed the fledglings for 25-56 days.

There’s more, but I want to share this video with you.  It shows daddy Cardinal feeding his babies.

Watch the video at about the 10 second mark.  One of the baby birds regurgitates something (poop?) and the daddy Cardinal takes it in his mouth and flies away.

Question 1:  What is that stuff the baby bird is regurgitating?

Question 2:  As I continue to post videos of these Cardinals and their young, would you prefer to see longer segments, shorter segments, or just as they are?  I’ve been just posting quick clips of interesting behaviors, but if people would be more interested in longer segments, I’d be happy to post those as well.

Question 3:  Does anyone know about uploading live feeds?  Suppose I wanted to run this feed all day and night and have it be real time.  Is doing something like that expensive?  Would that be interesting to those of you who read this blog?  Has anyone ever done that type of thing before?  Any companies that you would recommend I check out?

Update:  I just read that after pooping, the Cardinal parents will carry away the “fecal sac” so as not to attract predators.

Here’s a brief video clip showing mama Cardinal settling down in her nest to keep her babies warm.  It didn’t last long.  Daddy Cardinal started chirping that he was arriving with food, so she flew off.

In this video, it shows mama Cardinal feeding her two babies, then daddy Cardinal fly in to make an appearance.

Remember that BirdCam I bought that I’ve been using to record birds at the bird feeder?  I’ve also used it to record the Raccoon and the Rat.

We’ve known we’ve had a Cardinal nest in our Bamboo, but we never saw any eggs in it.  Today my neighbors came over to visit and I was giving them a tour of all the critters and wildlife in the backyard.

The last thing I was showing them was the Cardinal nest we had.  I told them it didn’t have any eggs in there, but we see the mama and daddy Cardinal frequently fly to the nest.  As I was showing them the nest, there was movement.  Two baby birds!

I immediately went to move the BirdCam from the bird feeders to the nest.  I’ve got some amazing footage to share.  Take a look at this first example.

It’s mama Cardinal feeding her two babies.