Today when I got home, my nephew Gerry tells me that the baby birds are out of the nest and on the ground.  He also tells me that the momma bird was feeding them on the ground!  Shocked, because I know they are only 3 days old and haven’t grown enough to fly, we rush outside to rescue them.  Sure enough, the babies are on the ground near the trunk of the tree, but the parents are no where to be seen.  Having just read last night that it is safe to put the babies back in the nest, I decided that would be my course of action.

One by one I pick up the little critters, and by little I mean very tiny.  These little guys didn’t come close to filling the palm of my hand.  Since the nest is up higher than I am tall, I had to reach up into the tree and gently place the birdies in the nest, one by one.  And they thank me by pooping on my hands! (Thanks guys!)

Once I have them back in the nest, I move back to the porch and wait.  And wait.  And wait.  I’m starting to fear that the parents have abandoned them, when finally, one of them flies straight to the trunk of the tree, and begins looking around.  Great, now it doesn’t know where the children are.  But I wait.  Slowly the head cocks to one side as if listening, and then up on the lowest branch.  Stop, listen, jump, next branch.  Finally, it arrives at the nest and a happy reunion takes place!  The parent starts pushing them back down in the nest as they keep squirming around like they are trying to get out. 

Finally, everyone is settled down and the family is reunited.  Once they are calm, the parent begins making the round to gather food and bringing it back.

Yes sir, nothing like a big ol’ helpin’ of worms to get the young ones growing.  Maybe the diet is when they are ready to leave home at only two weeks old.  Like most kids, they probably feel they can do better themselves so off they go.  Before the evening is out, the other parent shows up and the tag-team feeding begins anew.  Once again, the entire family is present and accounted for.

Worm after worm, these guys are getting fed well.  No wonder their little bodies were so round and plump!  I now know that there are three babies in the nest, because I put them back in, but when being fed, I was always only seeing two heads popping up.  It wasn’t until closer to the end of the evening that I finally saw all three of them sticking their heads up at once.

Now I can sleep well tonight knowing that the babies are back in their nest and safe from any ground predators.  It’s back over to mom and dad now to take care of them.  Hopefully they have learned their lesson about getting too close to the edge!