Out of the nest!

Yesterday I was watching all the wing-flapping and practising going on in the nest and couldn't understand how they didn't fall out! A mug of tea on my desk inside went cold whilst I was out there, I couldn't tear myself away.

Just as I was waking up this morning I heard a lot of noise from outside and when I went to see how things were today I found the nest empty!

However the youngsters hadn't gone very far - they were all perched on nearby little branches, just a short hop from the nest. It was quite difficult to get this picture because the parents are more protective than ever.

To shoot a mockingbird

A pair of tropical mockingbirds have nested in an avocado pear tree close to one corner of my balcony. I've been lucky enough to get photos of the chicks as they developed and of the parents feeding them. This was my first venture into wildlife photography so please bear with the varying quality of the pictures! I couldn't seem to manage apertures, shutter speeds AND watching for the parents returning with food for the babies.

The parents were a little nervous and tended to dive-bomb me if I got too close but I think they were actually more bothered by my laundry flapping on the line. Once I took the sheets in they calmed down quite a lot.

The dark mass in the lower left hand corner of the pic is the nest. As you can see, it is very unprotected. We have had strong winds and torrential downpours in the last few days and I wondered whether the chicks would survive. They did!

The nest was near the top of an avocado tree near a corner of my balcony (closer than it looks in this photo).

The dark splodge in the upper left corner of the tree shows the position of the nest.

Whilst one parent was off hunting for food, the other kept watch from the top of the tree.

I didn't fancy being stabbed with this lethal-looking insect eater's beak.

I never did work out which was mum and which was dad. They seemed to share the parenting and the hunting for food.

First view of the newly hatched babies. There are actually three of them in the nest, though only two wanted their pictures taken.

'One day, my son, all this will be yours!'

The other parent has returned with food for the babies.

They grow so quickly. This was taken a couple of days after the last pics. You can just see the head and beak of the third baby in the middle of the nest.

Here are the 3 fledglings this morning. How they all fit in the nest beats me! Judging by all the wing-stretching and flapping that goes on, I should think they'll be ready to take off pretty soon.