The nest

My research for the Mockingbird indicates that the nest is made up of dead twigs that are lined with grasses, rootlets, and dead leaves. This nest is placed in a shrub or tree, usually 3-10 feet high.

The nest we are observing is located in a shrub and is exactly 5'8" off the ground, well hidden from view.

This picture of last year's nest shows the materials used and even includes some cigarette filter material. This year's nest also has a cigarette butt lining the nest.

The eggs remain nestled in their location this morning, with no change evident yet.

Waiting for the eggs to hatch

I am very careful not to check the Mockingbird's nest too often, just to make sure that the parents do not get upset. Any time I am checking, I never see the adult birds until I am at the nest and then they will suddenly appear, usually on the roof gutter above.

So far, the eggs have not hatched. They are supposed to take 12-13 days to come out of their shell. I discovered them on Thursday, April 17th and I am not sure how long they had been there before then. However, we will probably have a bit of a wait before we see that they have arrived.





A class in North Carolina wanted to know how I knew the eggs were from a Mockingbird. This is an excellent question and one that I found the answer to last year. There are two main reasons to know that this is a Mockingbird. The first one being that I have seen the adult birds and they are typical Mockingbirds in both their looks and actions. The characteristics of this species is that they have two white wingbars that show up as large white patches when they are in flight. I took this picture last year when one of the adults was flying over me. Notice the white patches on the wings that are visible there.

The second reason I know that these are Mockingbirds is because their eggs are supposed to be bluish green, spattered with shades of brown. Most definitely these eggs can exactly be described in this way.




So we wait for the time when our new little birds will make their appearance in the nest that is located in this bush in front of my townhouse.

Discovering the nest

A year ago a family of birds built a nest in a bush in front of my house. I discovered it with three cute babies living there, anxious to be fed. Over the next several days I followed their progress and took pictures. My research helped me to determine that this was a Mockingbird family.

I wondered if the family would return this year and was disappointed when I thought they had found another place to build their nest. I left the old nest intact last year thinking that they might return to it, but no such luck.

About a week ago, I found one of the adult Mockingbirds perched on the hood of the Toyota truck that I park in front of my townhouse. He was sitting there looking in at my house, just as he had often done exactly a year ago. This made me hopeful that just maybe they had built a nest again. However, my search in the bush that day didn't reveal any new nests and the old nest was still vacant.

On Thursday, (April 17th), I was getting into my truck having left the house when I realized a bird had just flown out of the bush. Was the nest now in place? Carefully I walked over to discover the new nest with three perfect eggs.





I will be posting every weekday until the babies have gone through the process of hatching, growing and then leaving the nest. If you have questions, please post them and I will try to answer them.