Wildlife Pictures and Videos - Birds Nesting City Patio

Living in an apartment in North Carolina, does not stop you from enjoying birds or experiencing a wild life habitat. It has been years since I have had the privilege of having birds nest near enough that I could see all that was going on.

I thought it was so exciting, I had to chronicle the journey of egg to bird, as I witnessed on my own patio.

I can not tell you what kind of bird was nesting in my ferns, but I was able to get pictures of them, as I watched their parents build the nest, lay the eggs, feed and then encourage the fledgling to fly away.

It was amazing to watch the process and it reminded me that God's glory is everywhere. I hope you enjoy the pictures. They were all taken with my iPhone.

I love watching nature and the stages that produce new life. Once I knew the nest was finished, all I need to do was wait. To my surprise, the first time checked. I found two eggs, and the next time, there were five!

I don't know when she had time to lay the eggs, it seems like she was never there. Each time I opened the patio door. She flew away.

Somehow my presence and the presence of my cats did not deter the birds from choosing my patio as the place to raise their new family.

I took close pictures so the small details of the egg could be seen. Actually, the eggs were about the size of a jelly bean. Not all we have to do is wait!

When I first saw this little birds, I thought they were dead. It had been an extremely hot day and a thunderstorm the night before.

All I saw was fuzz and they seems to have not form. As I looked closer, I saw them breathing. So tiny and so perfect!

This is my male cat Oreo. He and his sister seemed pretty calm through the whole process.

They didn't seem to pay the birds much attention, until they got very vocal during their daily feedings.

My girl cat, never paid them any mind at all; but on more than one occasion I found Oreo on the patio railing, looking up at the nest.

Once the birds got to a certain age, I made sure they were not on the patio without me.

Can't you just tell what he is thinking from this picture?

They are getting pretty big and as you can see, have out grown their nest. Pretty soon something has got to give or someone has got to leave!

The bigger the bird got, the less the parents would come directly to the nest to feed them. I noticed before feeding the fledglings, the parents would sit near by and call to the chicks. When they heard their parents call they would call back.

They have learned their songs well and are prepared to recognized their parents voices when they leave the nest.

Now when feeding time has come, you can hear the flapping of little wings as they encouraged their parents to feed them. This behavior I assume also exercised their wings in preparation for flight.

I was fortunate to see the first chick leave the nest, he was so brave!

If you are a parent you know there is always one child who wants to stick closer to home. They are reluctant to leave home because of fear or laziness. Well, momma would have no such thing with her kids. She just stopped feeding Reluctant Flyer. As you can see, he is almost takes up the whole nest, so he is well able to leave.

I was so concerned he would starve or feel rejected; but this is all in the plan to make the nest so uncomfortable that RF would leave. She did not ignore him, but sat in a nearby tree and called and called to him.

He went one whole day with not food. Why doesn't RF leave? I went to bed that night and when I checked the nest the next morning, Reluctant Flyer had gone!

The parents have done their jobs well, as birds have done for thousands of years without out help. From nest to nesting, to feeding, to teaching to flying coach. And then there were none!