Last week we spotted a beautiful, orange-backed bird with a sharp hooked beak. This bird had dark, kohl-lined bright eyes. We checked our bird-book to find that she was a shrike.
This shy bird darted in and around the honeysuckle arbor. We stopped to watch the shrike quietly. We found they were really a pair of them working very hard. It was fun to hide and spy on the goings and comings of these birds.
Little did they know that they were being watched. Both brought twigs and bits of old, tattered pieces of cloth to the arbor. Hmmm....a nest! When the birds were away on one of their trips, we decided to take a peek... and guess what we found.....!!!!!!!!!!!
Now, every morning and evening we'd take quick peeks into the arbor..but try never to disturb the Daddy bird and Mommy bird. This continued for two whole weeks. The shrikes seemed very puffed up and proud looking each time we spotted them on a nearby tree or bush. There HAD to be a good reason for this. We carried a chair into the garden and stood on it to get a good look... and you are right! Yesterday was a sweet surprise for us. There were eggs in the nest..Not one, not two, not three..but FOUR cream colored,speckled eggs! Oh what a delight!
Now the wait begins..16-20 days later these eggs should hatch .....if all goes well. We have our fingers crossed and our camera ready. Are you curious to see the next stage in this story?
Ok.. here goes..first the excitement of the eggs having hatched! Hurray!..The sight of 4 fleshy, pink, bald birdies was a bit anti-climatic.. no cuteness here.. rubbery creatures..
we were willing to give them time to put on some make-up and get their feathery costumes on...
From sealed-shut eyes the chickees went on to develop black-berry eyes, just like their parents. Their beaks remained wide.. but their ..goodness.. their mouths were open wide all the time! They were eating machines. The parents were, I am sure, running/ flying ragged feeding these monsters..( well in a cute way)! Tick tock tick tock... with the passing of 3 more weeks this is the pic I have for you!
It's now, two weeks since the chickees made their first test-flight... they made short flits from branch to branch. The nest could no longer hold these furry feather balls! Mum and Dad fed them diligently.. they now had to make long-distance sorties to locate their babies from the myriad cheep-cheeps we heard from around the garden..The "cheeps" sometimes sounded like "Hurry up Dad..I am starved!"..haha
