We split a CSA share with our neighbor Zoe. The other day I was dropping off her half of the tasty fruits and vegetables when I heard a cardinal chip nearby. I could tell the sound came from the small tree next to me on the sidewalk, but thought it strange that the cardinal ceased moving or chipping. I stepped inside my apartment building and waited. I watched her fly from the tree and stepped out to look in the tree. She had started a nest.
What’s strange is that our street is under some heavy construction all summer long. She has stared this nest amidst all the noise, drilling, and pounding. I noticed the start of the nest on Thursday and took the above photo today.
What concerns me is the pink tape at the bottom of the tree. Is this tree slated or removal? They have already moved one large tree on my street. I think I will talk to the construction guys tomorrow about the tree. If it’s slated for removal in the near future, I may remove the cardinal nest. Better to destroy the nest before there are eggs and young.
However, maybe the tree is safe from the chopping block and we’ll get some interesting cardinal stories this summer. I’ve never seen a cardinal nest is such a small and sparse tree. We have some great tangles of hedges and bushes in our neighborhood in much quieter spots, I’m very surprised she chose this tree.
Please keep us updated on this!
awww…like A Tree grows in Brooklyn. Great story and great photos, too.
When I worked at a nursery we labeled tree size by ribbon- pink was 2″ diameter.
Fingers crossed that the cardinals keep their home! I just recently saw a family of mistle thrushes fledge from a tree during a summer fete, in an incredibly busy park, from a tree which had a plant stall just below that was doing a roaring trade. I think the human world is just pretty much irrelevant to birds, unless we pose a direct threat. How else could they put up with us and our noise?
carolyn,
thanks for the tip!
I just talked to the construction guys and they said that the plan is for the tree to stay, I showed them the nest. However, today they are installing a street lamp right next to the tree. We’ll see if the cardinals decide to keep this spot or if the activity proves to be too much.
bird,
mistle thrushes are one of my favorite birds. I have a post coming up about them sometime in the future.
When I worked as an animal control officer we had robins build a nest on top of the outdoor dog runs and they successfully raised a clutch of babies there. We tried not to use the particular kennel they were on top of but there were often dogs on either side. Kind of a strange choice of location but they seemed to like it.
a few weeks ago a robin built a nest in a fake flower arrangement atop a four foot tall jump standard in the middle of the indoor arena where i take riding lessons. My instructor asked me if i might be able to take on the (at that time unidentified) baby birds that had hatched, in case the moving of the standard to outside the ring scared off the mother bird. But no worries, she kept coming to feed while i was there four feet away watching!
What surprised me most was how silent the babies were, but then i’m used to starlings letting everyone know where they are and how hungry they are, heh.