Sad Nature Story

It's been a quiet week in Pine Cove, our home town.

A couple of Oregon Juncos, moved in with us to the yard about 3 weeks ago.
Oregon Junco is a funny name, no doubt. Don't worry, they are not some drug user hippies from out of state. They are cute little birdies, the size of a chickadee. They have light bellies, grey vest and a black hat. So pretty!

I noticed, they built a nest into one of my hanging flower baskets I did not plant summer flowers into yet. It still has the fall/winter, plastic flowers and pine branches arrangement. Perfect nesting place.

One day, I was working in the garden and I saw that mom birdie was sitting on 3 eggs.
The little babies broke the eggs after a couple of weeks.
Yesterday morning, I told Mark to go take pictures of the chicks.
Here they are:

Hungry, baby birdies are waiting for the parents to feed them.

There were 3 eggs but only 2 babies.

We were out in the yard most of the morning, and Mark noticed a Blue-Jay landing on the edge of the basket and leaving with something in his mouth.

Sure enough, he stole one of the birdies.

We covered the basket with a netting, so the parents can get in and out, but no bigger birds allowed.

We threw rocks at the Blue-Jay a few times. The Oregon Junco parents did not like the netting, but they were able to get to their baby.

We went on a hike into the forest with the doggies for a few hours and when we returned, the last little baby was gone also.

Today, the parents were not around either. They moved out of the yard. So sad. We liked them a lot! Little birds are very pretty.