Baby Mockingbird Miracle

Picture:

This weekend I visited Houston, Texas for a taekwondo tournament that my daughter was competing in. Of course, like any proud mother, I had my camera with me to capture great pictures of her first black belt tournament while she competed to share with our family.

When we were walking up to the convention center next to neatly trimmed hedges, my eye focused in on 2 adult Northern Mockingbirds perched on top of the hedges as we approached. As we continued walking, I was surprised when the bird did not fly away as most of the mockingbirds that are near my home don't let you get too close. As I got closer, I could hear a very high pitched sound and I realized that the adult mockingbird was feeding her babies. She flew away just as we neared the nest.

It appears that the nest was once well embedded and covered in the hedges across the street from the convention center. Now, it sits directly on top of the hedges absolutely flush with the leaves. We noticed that all the branches had been freshly cut and somehow missed the nest by milimeters. Had they cut the hedges any lower this Spring, these babies would not have survived. You can see the cut branches around the nest well in the picture above (which I was lucky enough to take since I happened to have my camera with me).