Baby Mockingbird RIP

It was a sad morning when I came out to check on the mockingbird nest of little peeps. For some reason, the little peeps sound was a bit diminished to my ears. However, the adult mockingbirds were as protective as ever of the nest as they hopped from branch to branch giving me the serious stink eye and cautioning me to move on.

Each day, especially in the early mornings, I will walk to the side of my backyard to get a good angle at the sunflower garden. There is a bit of a rise at the corner of the fence near the remaining giant water oak. As I stand up a bit, I capture some of the best landscape shots of my blossoming sunflower garden.

I'm not sure why this morning was a little different. Perhaps it is my maternal, nurturing instinct that made me walk towards the back of the property along the tree line of crepe myrtles. Then, my eyes were directed to the ground. Oh my! I couldn't believe my eyes.

Baby Mockingbird RIP : June 9, 2014 8:40am

That is a picture of how I found the dead baby mockingbird. I looked at it for a while and then found a stick of cypress mulch to turn it over and check what might have killed that baby mockingbird.

Baby Mockingbird RIP : June 9, 2014 8:40am

When I looked at the right side of the dead bird, it confirmed that it was a mockingbird. And, when I see those feathers, they are very much like the size of the feathers that were found in my front yard the day the red shouldered hawk was stripping a captured bird in my Drake Elm tree!

Baby Mockingbird RIP : June 9, 2014 8:40am

Looking at the left side of the dead bird, it looks pretty in contact. I am not sure what might have killed this baby mockingbird! What's interesting is that the baby bird has some mighty strong looking legs and feet!Take a closer look at the feet -- don't they look mighty wicked for a mockingbird?

After a bit of examining the baby bird, I could see the flies were already clued in. An especially odd looking green one was comfortably attached to the body. I came inside and got a small shovel for digging. Next to where I found the body, I started to dig a deep hole. I picked up the dead bird with the shovel and set it into the deep hole. Then, I covered it with the dirt and tamped it down. RIP baby mockingbird!