Whew!

Lot's of action going on around the porch this weekend.  Between the finches, the cardinals, the psycho squirrel, it seemed line it went on and on.  Probably just seemed like a lot...

The finches have laid a total of five eggs in four days.  And this little momma girl is small!  I don't know where they were coming from...  We've pulled the nest down to give the poor fern a drink of water, and the eggs kept multiplying.  I've managed to get some pics along the way, but know that soon I won't be pulling it down anymore.  (I'll have to get a step-stool to take a quick peek and picture.)  Momma is not thrilled about us using our porch for ourselves, and will sit in a nearby tree and watch us while we sit in our chairs looking out.  She won't really come around while we're out there.  I hope that changes, though.  Luckily, she's got the weekdays to make up for it, and enjoy it all to herself.

The cardinals were also riled up by mr. psycho squirrel.  Daddy cardinal was keeping an eye on him, and when he ran up a utility pole that was right nest to the nest bush, daddy cardinal was very vocal about how unhappy he was.  Mr. psycho squirrel ran up the utility pole, then right back down and jumped into the bush where the nest is.  It's not a big bush, so we were expecting the worst.  Although I was pretty sure squirrels don't eat baby birds, this one is a tad on the psycho side, so who knows.    We tried to see in the nest, to make sure the babies were ok, but it looked empty.  With sinking stomachs, we were about to just retreat to the porch, when D spotted a baby cardinal right by my foot.  I snapped a couple pics, then we quickly headed to the porch to watch how things unfolded.  The momma and daddy cardinal came right in, and corralled the baby into the bush.  We could see it flapping it's wings and jumping up a couple branches.  Not sure if it made it back into the nest, but it appears to be ok for now.  (pics below!)

Also near the cardinal nest bush are some pointy yucca bushes (man, those things hurt!).  We've seen a hummingbird flitting around them, be he never seems to go to the feeder.  We've seen a downy woodpecker at the hummingbird feeder, but no hummingbirds.   We've seen this one hummingbird a few times, so there should be more, right?

We decided to go out, get a pole hook and a real bird feeder.  Got seed, and we were all set.  Put the feeder up, and put a hummingbird feeder on one of the hooks.   The hummingbird flew right past the feeder.  Sheesh!  Don't these birds know we're trying to help???

Anyhoo - here are some more pics for your viewing pleasure...

Here are the nest pics from the porch.

Here is the baby cardinal after being

flushed out by Mr. Psycho Squirrel!

Here is the Downy Woodpecker that is

 drinking from the hummingbird feeder.

This is definitely become quite a hub of activity!  It sure is bringing entertainment...

AMW