A Rare Treat: A Cardinal’s Nest At Eye Level

Right outside my front door is a Judd Viburnum that has been home to many robin’s nests throughout the years

Judd Viburnum

This year, we saw some busy birds flying in and out, so of course I had to investigate.  I assumed it was a robin as before, but a quick peak at the eggs and nest materials, it was clearly not a robin.

cardinal eggs

cardinal eggs

cardinal nest

So what were they?  House sparrow?  Maybe, eggs look similar, but not in a typical location.  Cardinal?  Never saw a cardinal nest before but definitely fits.
Location–dense shrubs
Height–4-6 ft from the ground
Material–thin twigs, stems, bark, vines,  dead leaves, rags, paper, and other fine material (no mud like in a robin’s nest)
Eggs–glossy white or pale green and have gray, brown, or reddish speckling throughout, which is usually more dense along the larger end.

Looks like I have a cardinal nesting nearby!

Within four days of seeing the eggs, the babies had hatched.  They were very noisy and hungry, and I saw momma cardinal coming and going very frequently with food no doubt.

cardinal hatchlings

I checked back three days later and their eyes were open and they were still very noisy.  Not sure how many there were.  I could see three for sure, but hard to tell if there was a couple more hidden in there somewhere.

cardinal hatchlings

Another three days and they were growing nicely and starting to be a lot more interactive with their mother’s calls.  In this shot, the babies had been chirping, the mom saw me from a nearby tree and gave a sharp chirp.  Everyone huddled down and got really quiet.

cardinal hatchlings

The next day, when I went to peak at them  there were none left in the nest and this one little guy in a bush nearby trying to stay dry in a rain shower.

cardinal fledgling

Mom and Dad weren’t far away in the maple tree keeping an eye on them.  By that evening, they were all gone.

female cardinal

I could still hear the babies chirping in the yard for a few more days as the parents kept an eye on them until they’re ready to be completely on their own.

4 thoughts on “A Rare Treat: A Cardinal’s Nest At Eye Level

  1. Stephi, that’s fun you got to follow the cardinal family. Nice pictures. I like the size of your Judd Viburnum. Is that the natural size or do you have to keep it pruned a lot?

    1. We do prune the judd viburnum each year. It’s about a 20 yr old shrub, so at this point we just give it a little haircut and take off the new growth after its done flowering. I think it’s one of the easier viburnums to prune. It also has one of the best smelling flowers around.

  2. Very cool! I had a cardinals nest in some Trumpet Vine at eye level one year. There were eggs but then everybody disappeared. I hope nothing bad happened.

    1. How odd they all disappeared. It is pretty quick from egg to fledgling, but you would have seen something. Nests always strike me as very vulnerable.

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