Mothers' Day in the Park

In all of your living, don't forget to live.

― Ricky Maye 

It rained and rained last week. The creek left its banks and ran muddy. We have been waiting - for the return of the herons for the cardinals and mockingbirds and crows to fledge. Will we see them?

The birds continued their spring compulsions although now so much was hidden by the regrowth - grasses, wildflowers, and trees are lush and provide perfect cover. We are witnesses of only bits and pieces of their lives - nests full and abandoned, eggs left in odd places, and performances of territorial songs and "dance." We have now seen a few young mocking birds but we are only watching to "known" nests.

One of the domestic ducks/geese leaves eggs in the grass. We have never seen baby ducks or baby geese here perhaps because there are too many predators.

This is a little bit of what we saw in a wild celebration of the holiday to come.

The Red-bellied Woodpecker* nest:

For a few walks we have been privy to these woodpeckers feeding the little ones in the nest-hole. They have been at this tree the last three trips to the park. The female bird finds a morsel and reaches into the hold over and over before disappearing inside.  On this week's visit I saw her peering out of the hole.

Red-shouldered Hawks:

We have also watched the Red-shouldered Hawks at their nest, but then they disappeared for weeks. They have suddenly reappeared and are behaving as if there might be something happening in the nest.

A hawk in the nest in early May.

It's hard to see this hawk among the leaves. It is keeping close watch on us as we walk past.

The trees have leafed out and so it is difficult to get a decent view of the nest. We have not seen chicks, but the parents work hard to distract us when we come near the nesting tree. Our observation is sporadic. We've been busy and unable to make regular trips to check the nest. But we expect to have a little more time and will make early morning stops. Stay tuned.

Muscovy Duck:

We watched this duck "nesting" at the food of the Main Street bridge. One egg here was broken and the other appeared new.

Mississippi Kites:

We suspect these kites** are nesting somewhere nearby, but we have not seen a nest.

This pair of Mississippi Kites appears every few mornings. We don't know if they are nesting or not.

Killdeer:

A Killdeer*** mother (I'm making an assumption here - the plumage is the same and there is only a size difference between males and females) protected her babies at the edge of the creek. I saw her and thought she looked rather strange. Only after taking a couple of photos could I tell that she had multiple chicks hiding "in her skirts."

From a distance it's a little hard to note what is happening there.

I love this little mother.

I suppose you can count the legs and divide by 2 to see how many chicks are under there. They lay 4 eggs usually, but I think this is 3 chicks.

Happy Mother's Day from Nolan Creek 2019!

NOTES:

*https://txtbba.tamu.edu/species-accounts/red-bellied-woodpecker/
**https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Mississippi_Kite/lifehistory
***https://www.birdwatching.com/stories/killdeer.html