Hi everyone
not really a question but I have a bird nesting with her babies in my clematis bush in my back yard . She doesn’t seem at all bothered that we sit outside quite a lot & she’s backwards & forwards feeding her chicks very often .We absolutely love hearing them being fed ,the chirping is amazing ! No problems other than we have found ourselves becoming quite protective over this mother & her chicks and wondered if there was anything we could do to assist her in protecting her babies from predators ?
when will the chicks be ready to leave the nest ?
I have honestly really not given birds much of a thought before we gained a lodger & now I’m quite attached to her
Hello Donna, welcome to the forum. I have attached a link for you. I think it may be Blackbirds that you have nesting, from the type of bush that you describe. If it is not, you can always look at this site for other birds, that could be nesting, Robin maybe? What do the parents look like, are they the ones in the link?
Blackbirds will lay 3-5 eggs and sit on them for two weeks, they will hatch and fledge, (leave the nest in another 2 weeks). They will Bop about the ground for a short while, still being fed and eventually fly. They are obviously used to you being around, they can be very trusting, as you say, coming and going, but now that you know there are there, stay clear of the nest, don't be tempted to have a peek, as they may abandon the nest and leave the chicks. There is nothing you can do to assis or help, let nature take its course. Enjoy the birds and the babies, from a distance.
Hope this helps.
www.google.com/url
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Thanks so much !
yes she looks like the bird mentioned & we promise not to intervene at all ️ We are enjoying them
Hello again
just an update on the baby birds & some advice please ? we stayed out of Thursday until the babies left the nest /yard but when we’ve returned it looks as though mum has left one of them
she has completely gone & there’s been no sign of her for 2 days now where before she was a constant presence .
my fear is that this poor baby is not sourcing food /water as she sits in the same spot in the pergola behind the clematis bush right out of sight .
could the mother have abandoned her ? What can we do to help .I must stress that we have not intervened in any way & have kept an extremely low profile
thanks so much
Usually the male blackbird takes over duties once the young fledge - they will assist the young in feeding, showing them safe areas and how to feed so hopefully the male is still around
Cin J
Hiya, maybe the mum is still about but you have just not seen her? As Cin has said, dad would normally be about to keep feeding the young. Hope this is happening. There really is nothing you can do to help. If you put out food anywhere, it will attract bigger birds to come for it and the blackbird being still on the ground would be very vulnerable. Keep watch and fingers crossed all will be okay.
Thanks for the help everyone .
panic over .. baby sat in the bush for most of the day then flew off suddenly which is such a relief , she looked quite well so fingers crossed she’s off to begin her new life .
looking forward to next year maybe when we are a little more clued up on garden birds !
Great news Donna.