binary visions
New member
Wanted to say hello to everyone, as I'm new here. I have a question.
We have a cardinal living near our house that was a baby last year.
One month ago, she started building a nest right outside of our living room window (~10 inches from it) in a small tree. We're quiet people so she was and has been almost completely undisturbed during this time.
When she was done, she left it alone for a couple days. Then, she came, and sat. And sat. For a couple weeks, she only left to get food from a nearby feeder and the mama bird just sat in her nest - presumably incubating her eggs. We could not see the eggs - the nest is just slightly too high for us to see the bottom of the nest, so we just assumed they were out of our view. She would occasionally stand on the side of the nest and look like she was pushing stuff around in the nest with her beak.
This past Sunday, she started acting funny, leaving the nest a lot - for 30 minutes, 45 minutes at a time. Then, on Monday, she disappeared. For about 36 hours we didn't see her. Next thing I know, I look out and she's back on the nest. Since then, she has been gone about half the time but the other half, she's back sitting in the nest.
Clearly, if she had eggs, they are not viable. What would cause her to sit for so long, then leave, and return? Could she have not laid eggs in the first place and is only now pregnant? Do parents often get confused if the eggs are not viable?
We have a cardinal living near our house that was a baby last year.
One month ago, she started building a nest right outside of our living room window (~10 inches from it) in a small tree. We're quiet people so she was and has been almost completely undisturbed during this time.
When she was done, she left it alone for a couple days. Then, she came, and sat. And sat. For a couple weeks, she only left to get food from a nearby feeder and the mama bird just sat in her nest - presumably incubating her eggs. We could not see the eggs - the nest is just slightly too high for us to see the bottom of the nest, so we just assumed they were out of our view. She would occasionally stand on the side of the nest and look like she was pushing stuff around in the nest with her beak.
This past Sunday, she started acting funny, leaving the nest a lot - for 30 minutes, 45 minutes at a time. Then, on Monday, she disappeared. For about 36 hours we didn't see her. Next thing I know, I look out and she's back on the nest. Since then, she has been gone about half the time but the other half, she's back sitting in the nest.
Clearly, if she had eggs, they are not viable. What would cause her to sit for so long, then leave, and return? Could she have not laid eggs in the first place and is only now pregnant? Do parents often get confused if the eggs are not viable?
