Time to Fly Away...The Baby Mockingbirds Spread Their Wings

Boy, did I get a surprise when I looked out the window, this morning. There, standing tall, was one of the mockingbird babies. No more hiding and snuggling down in the depths of the nest. 

I got out the ladder and climbed up to get a closer look. Oh my goodness, the baby was all alone! Where were the other two? The lone mockingbird baby stood perched on the edge of the nest for several minutes, while I took a few pictures. 

All of a sudden, I must have gotten just a little too close, or maybe he just got a little more courage, because he suddenly jumped out of the nest and fluttered too the ground. He made his first solo flight, and landed safely. Hurray!!!!

Once he landed on the porched, he hopped to the wall and huddled there. I climbed down the ladder and started taking more pictures. He just looked at me. No peeps, no fearful scurrying. Instead, he perched there and lifted his wings up and down, up and down with tiny little shrugs.

I wondered where the other two hatchlings were, so I scouted around the yard. Ahhhhhh....here is one of them, nestled into the base of a pecan tree. He, too, was lifting and lowering his wings, doing a strengthening work-out.

Once again, this inconsiderate photographer passed that invisible line that separates "okay" from "too close for comfort". The little bird jumped up and fluttered it's tiny wings, moving up the tree trunk a whole foot. That should make it a lot safer! 

He peeped his squeaky cry for help. Momma and daddy were not far away. Actually, they had been fussing at me the whole time, but I think it was only half-hearted fussing, for I hardly noticed them at all. Maybe they were beginning to realize I am not actually a threat to their family, just a nuisance.

I will miss these babies. They grew so fast. Watching them develop from scrawny, ugly little naked babies into feathered beauties able to fly in the space of just a few days, I am drawn to praise and awe for our mighty Creator, the God of the universe, who knows when even a sparrow falls. What an incredible God! What a magnificent creation!