Northern Cardinal Nest Webcam

Thats agreat Cam SM her's the first Pic of the Northern Cardinal on her eggs


WS

One of the eggs has just hatched, so cool to see, hopefully the other two will hatch soon as well.



littlewid-x-

That must have been really great to see LW. She was just on the side of the nest looking in, I dont know if she was feeding the chick or if any more have hatched as she was blocking the view, then she started brooding

WS

Lovely photos and another great cam to keep an eye on

Lai

This little bird doesn't have a name and if we are going to follow her she has to have one, so because of her orange beak and tail i've named her Jaffa, hope thats ok with you guy's.

I have been trying to see about the other eggs and if they have hatched, I think they have because you can hear little chicks and it sounds more than the one that was there last night, but Jaffa is sitting tight on the nest and wont budge

I will keep looking in to see if can capture the chicks.

littlewid-x-

Somethings happened guy's, there is only the two eggs left in the nest and no chick from yesterday. In the chat they are saying they hope a wasp doesnt get into the nest again, so whether the little chick was stung by a wasp and died or for some reason Jaffa turned it out, there was some talk about a cow egg yesterday and when that hatches the mum gets rid of the chick, so I don't know what happened but we are down to two eggs waiting to hatch.



littlewid-x-

That's sad - i hope this doesnt turn out to be like poor Phoebe and her chicks.

Love the name Jaffa Jaffa cakes are my all time favourites!

Lai

I love Cardinals. It looks like there is a larger egg in the two that is left. I hope there are ok.
Carson

ESP LW We had a Tabby Cat with orange stripes, and we called it Jaffa after the Orange, lets hope the other 2 eggs hatch, and things go OK
WS

The Cams up & running Jaffa is sitting tight on the eggs, I just managed to get sight if one egg


WS

Nice capture WS, every time I have looked in Jaffa has been attentive to the remaining two eggs, so i'm keeping my fingers crossed for those.

Glad you like the name Lai, I thought it suited her and yep it's ESP again WS.

I was also thinking, I hope this isn't Phoebe all over again Lai when I knew about the chick but I do reckon it was stung by the wasp and died and Jaffa took it out of the nest.

Will check on them tomorrw but the cam isnt running early mornings, it comes on a little later in the morning.

littlewid-x-

Its raining at the moment, and for some reason the nest is fogged out, dont know if the rain is doing it


WS

They were expecting strong storms there WS and thought they may go off air, but all is well at the moment.
There was also a note saying the first hatchling did not survive and was carried away by mum.

Jaffa is sitting pretty on her eggs at the moment, they are two days overdue from hatching apparantly.


littlewid-x-

Thanks LW was just going to have a look. The cam seems to have cleared now, lets hope the eggs hatch soon
WS

The nest still has 2 eggs in it one is the Northern Cardinals the other is a Cowbird egg. I've never heard of one before, but it's like the Cukoo it lays its eggs in others nests, but some birds can tell, and take action to get rid of the egg or stop it hatching. This is a link for Cowbirds
http://www.wbu.com/chipperwoods/photos/cowbird.htm

A couple of Photos of Jaffa on the eggs, and the eggs on their own you can see the difference in size




WS

Some more info on Cowbirds
Host's reaction to egg: Some hosts (e.g., Prothonotary Warblers) may desert the nest, or reject it by laying down more nesting material on top of the cowbird egg (burying it), or removing (ejecting) it from the nest. Ed Mashburn of PA reported bluebirds abandoning a nest when a cowbird egg appeared (apparently replacing the third bluebird egg laid), and rebuilding in another box nearby (and successfully raising a brood.) I had a Black-capped Chickadee desert when the sixth egg was replaced. Others will incubate the egg and rear the nestling as one of their own. Species vary in their reaction to cowbird egg deposition. Robins, Gray Catbirds, Blue Jays, Cedar Waxwings, Northern Orioles and Brown Thrashers tend to recognize and reject cowbird eggs (>88% of time [BNA]). Phoebes tend to accept the eggs. It seems possible that cavity-nesters would be less likely to recognize and reject cowbird eggs because they see them less often, they nest in dark locations, and some (like Tree Swallows and bluebirds) do not have large bills that would make egg removal easier. Cowbird eggs laid in House Finch nests often "disappear" or the chicks die due to the diet (all vegetable matter) fed by foster parents.

Incubation: A cowbird typically hatches at least one day ahead of the young of its adopted siblings, usually in 9-10 or up to 14 days (typically 10-12?) after incubation starts. When cowbird eggs are larger than the hosts' eggs, they may affect hatching of host eggs - e.g., 31% of Carolina Wren eggs in a parasitized nest failed to hatch, compared to 9% in non-parasitized nests (Birds of North America online.)

WS

Well it wil be interesting to see what happens WS. Initially they were talking about a cowbird egg on site and thats what made me wonder if the chick that disapeared was from the cowbird egg, then it appeared to not be the case and the chick didnt survive and Jaffa removed it, so it will be interesting to see if she tries to raise this one or get rid of it, lets hope it doesnt affect the hatching of her own egg. Thanks for the info WS and the pictures.

littlewid-x-

The male cardinal visits the nest for just a few seconds


WS

Interesting info thanks WS - can't wait to see what happens, and let's hope it's good news for Jaffa.

Lai

I thought one of the remaining eggs looked bigger than the other. Now I know its because one is a cowbird egg.

The male cardinal is a beautiful colour, thanks for posting the video clip WS and letting us see.

Any idea how long we have to wait now?

SM

Isn't he just the most gorgeous colour, so handsome. Thanks for posting that WS.

SM the egg was two days overdue on Sunday so it should be soon......obviously dont know about the cowegg as not sure what egg it is.

littlewid-x-

Apparently the Cowbird lays the egg timed to hatch about the day before the host nests eggs hatches
WS

The eggs are still there but no sign of Mum, some people are speculating the she knows there is something wrong with the eggs, and one person has reported seeing ants, and flies on the eggs. It's strange that one egg should hatch, and nothing has happened to the others.
WS

Sad news it does'nt look as though the eggs are going to hatch it's normaly 13Days to incubation, and its 16 now. The mother has only been seen for a short time, but she does'nt seem to be sitting on the nest anymore
WS