Wednesday, May 06, 2009

Quints & Triplets & Twins

An update on our triple backyard drama; all five of Mama Wren's babies hatched and thrived, did not jump out of the pot and otherwise behaved themselves. For a while there, though, the nest resembled a can of wren sardines (click on any of the images to see a larger version):



Mama left the nest (no room left for her) but came back faithfully many times a day to feed the quints, who barely uttered a peep. Then one day during breakfast I noticed some little heads popping up:



A few mornings later when I went out to check on them, all I found was an empty nest:



I can't be sure, but I want to believe that all five had successful solo flights and flew off into the sunset.

The mama fox had triplets, who were the cutest little things and ran around just like puppies. Because foxes are very skittish we stayed away from the den, so the only photos I managed to take were from across the yard and really too blurry to make them out. Still, here are my best shots of Mama and two of the triplets:



We haven't seen the foxes for a few days, and we think Mama took her triplets off into the woods to teach them how to hunt and stuff. On the other side of the porch, the new Mama Dove's eggs have hatched, and it's twins again.


We've named this pair Nelson and Desmond:



If this keeps up I'm going to need a wildlife daycare license or something.

9 comments:

  1. Lynn's Wild Kingdom...would you have your own theme song?

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  2. I love these pictures! Thanks for sharing them.

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  3. And to think, some people spend absurd amounts of money trying to get birds attracted to their yards (I'm not sure about foxes though) and you've proven all you need is shelf and a planter.

    You're are lucky though. All our birds nest high up in the trees where we can't see them.

    And that license might not be a bad idea :D

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  4. Eugenia, I think Lynn's Wild Kingdom is great! She could hang a little sign out. ;)

    I just think that's cool. We have foxes that come up in the yard, but I've never seen their kits. Would be fun though. You've very lucky.

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  5. I love your baby bird posts. And the foxes! So cute. Unfortunately we don't have any around here. We've got coyotes up in the hills...

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  6. Awww. Great pics. I haven't seen fox kits up close for a couple of years. They really are something.

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  7. Anonymous10:10 PM

    your backyard sounds like such a fun place. All mine has are my mom's plants in various stages of death and decay.

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  8. These are such sweet critters. I like the doves the best.

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  9. helen6:14 PM

    I'm not sure what camera system you use but you might want to invest in a 100-400 canon lens (or something similar that will work with your lens). The shots you can get are amazing. The lens although long is kept steady by internal sensors (for the most part) and you can take very close up pictures of animals that are very far away. I bought one before I went to Africa and I've used it pretty much every day since. You can even take macro photos with it. It is a very worthwhile investment and you might have been able to get excellent pics of the kits from a pretty good distance.

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