Don't be fooled by this innocent looking bird sitting on my porch railing. He is one of a pack of marauding juvenile mockingbirds that have been terrorizing all the other birds in my yard...and who took the week-old baby robins I told you about last week and threw them out of the nest. We only found one, which our boxer had, so we can only assume that the others were gotten hold of by the dogs as well.What makes me so mad is that I saw them go in there, and repeatedly ran out and chased them off, even encouraged my dogs to try to get them, but they snuck back anyway. As the boys and I searched the surrounding area, mama robin sat atop the peach tree watching us and looking very forlorn. How sad is that! Make a nest, lay your eggs, sit on them until they hatch, bring them food over and over again for a week, only to have them tossed out for kicks by a bunch of bullies.
I wrote about my displeasure with the mockingbirds last summer, so I guess I need to accept that they will continue to be a part of my garden life. But I don't have to like it. Last year the snake got the baby bluebird, and the sparrows took over all the other bluebird houses, and now this. I think I'm about to give up on trying to attract nesting birds to my yard, and for sure need to not get so emotionally involved! Between the snakes, hawks, sparrows, starlings, and damn mockingbirds, I feel like I'm setting up all the other birds for heartache.
Oh well, it's all part of nature, and nature can be very cruel in the middle of all the loveliness.
14 comments:
Well, that stinks. I wish the robins would find a safer place to make their nest. That is so sad that the mama bird was watching and couldn't do a thing.
We have a hummingbird who has made a nest in the garage above my car. Seems like a safe place. Sure hope they make it.
Nature is indeed cruel. Birds especially...for all their beauty, inspiration, and song--they're a pretty cutthroat bunch.
It never ceases to amaze me how my cats can be so warm and cuddly with me, and then go out in the yard and catch a lizard and dispassionately maul it until it is dead--just for the hell of it.
But animals operate on instinct, and because of that must always be regarded as innocent. It's the HUMANS who have the ABILITY to make choices between good and evil, and therefore must be held accountable for their behavior!
I don't think I've ever seen a Mockingbird here..we have 2 nests of robins that are about ready to fly the coop..the Moms put them in the lowest bushes for crying out loud and everyday I hope our cat doesn't notice them or find them trying to learn how to fly. Robin Moms are the best but nature is cruel. Our boxer loves to chase birds all over the yard but I hope the babies don't run into him either!
I think Blue Jays are just as nasty. I'm so sorry about the robins. And the bluebirds. Kind of makes watching nature not so fun. It can certainly be cruel.
Alas, if we only could command nature to behave as we believe it should. I too abhor cruelty.
You and I have much in common, though here it is the currowongs preying on the little wattle birds nest. One year I found myself bolting up the track after a currawong with a baby in its mouth, the parents flying by my side. All to no avail. I'm not sure about there but here there has been an explosion of "black and white" birds who adapt quickly to human habitation and so a decrease in others. Not helped by the fact people pull our much of the scrubby bush and replace it with exotics birds can't live in or feed from. Ah well, just grit your teeth and maybe put in a think, even prickly bush the robins might be able to get into but not the mockingbirds?
It does sound like the Mockingbirds are just a bunch of thugs, but I guess nature is nature. We had a nest of robins in a hanging basket on our porch. The basket fell and so did the nest. So sad. I guess if they all made it we would soon feel like we were in that old movie "The Birds", but it hard to see nature in action sometimes.
I guess we all do the best we can with what we have. Here's to hoping the robins and bluebirds find better nesting places next time around.
Oh my, nature is hard to watch sometimes. I think our heartstrings pull for these little creatures... so sad when they don't grow up to fledge.
A squirrel caused havoc in our phoebe nest, the poor parent birds left after a few days... sad to see.
Nature at its worse is pretty hard to watch.......can't say you haven't done all you could to help sweetie........:-) Hugs
I know what you mean about getting to involved. I worry about everything from the birds to the cattle,I just believe that if it breathes it should be pampered. I guess we are just nurturer's by nature.
Well said, W2W. We don't have Mockingbirds, but we have Blue Jays. They are the terrorist birds in my "hood". Nice to look at, but mean-spirited. Yeah, it's a tough planet out there....
We used to have a resident mockingbird at the house where I grew up that would divebomb our cat (literally). And one at an old apartment of mine that would divebomb ME! Ferocious, unoriginal posers. Yours looks particularly scrappy.
How sad Linda! I feel your pain, since I love birds too, and those babies just didn't stand a chance. An image came to mind of a tree I often see that has strips of silver foil (?) ribbon all over it, I think in hopes of warding off bad birds. Wonder if that would work to annoy the mockingbirds enough to leave your yard? Doesn't help the robins though :(
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