These weeks of observing the family of Sabiá's was very interesting and entertaining. It also was a learning experience, teaching me about the life of birds and reminding me many times about God's care for His children.
I love this picture of one bird with his "arm" wrapped around his sibling.
Eyes are still closed but you can see how big those eyes are! And look at the adorable downy feathers forming on the head and back.
Quickly growing and filling up the nest...
.JPG)
As soon as they hear their mother's "cluck" or sense movement on the nest, their beaks fling open.
Look how tall they can stretch their neck...
...and how wide they can open their mouth!
Both mother and father worked all day long to feed their triplets. I was impressed with their diligence, determination and dedication!
I was able to get lots of close-ups of the parents. Here's one...
Ever get the staredown by a bird? She always kept her eye on me
but never once did she try to attack me. I think she knew she could trust me.
Ok, now the wing feathers are forming. They are about 4 days old here.
.JPG)
We're really looking alert now! Junior is 13 days old.
As I had done a couple other times, I gently rubbed his head...
But this time, all of a sudden, he jumped up and flew out of the nest! Then Little Brother and Little Sister followed suit! There were several moments of scurrying around and yelling as we sought to keep our dog from getting them. Needless to say, I was not taking pictures during those moments!
We tied up Morgan...but you can tell where her attention is. She was definitey on "red alert". By the way, she isn't normally black and brown, she's really black and white! She's been in the digging mood recently...
I spent the rest of that day in the backyard, keeping watch over the 3 little birds and making sure they didn't wander too close to Morgan.
Sometimes they stayed in one place for a long time.
But they usually went off to find a new place to wait...
And mommy always had to hunt for them. She always found them, of course,
because they called for her every few minutes.
Oh, honestly Junior, are you still hungry??
Long story shortened...Morgan got one of them that night. Yes, I know,
she looks so totally innocent. Not.
And the next day another one fell into the blue tub which had water in it.
Death by drowning.
That left the last one to fend for himself.
I named him George. Doesn't he look like a George?
He stuck around for 3 more days, spending most of his time in a little alleyway behind the house which we'd blocked off so Morgan couldn't get to him. He liked to sit up on the windowsill and just wait for Mommy to come feed him...
On Friday morning we saw no signs of him (nor signs that Morgan got him!) so we're assuming and hoping that he finally managed to fly high enough to escape to freedom.
"Yea, the sparrow hath found an house, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young..." (Psalm 84:3a)
"He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry."
(Psalm 147:9)
"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows."
(Matthew 19:29-31)
