That's pretty cool!

Very Interesting! I suppose it speaks well of your tomato plant! :)

Very cool veggie King! All the birds ever do in my garden is sit on the cages and poop. I guess they eat bugs too.

Adorable! Congrats on your babies!

I've been using my grown kids' swingset to grow beans and squash up. At the top, where the side poles meet the horizontal top pole, it's open a little. And for about at least 8 years now, a carolina wren (or it's descendants), have built a nest in there. I can't believe one of them does this every year. I try to tell them they are welcome here and I'd never hurt them or their children, , but they just yell at me the whole time I'm working in the garden. Oh well. I still look forward to them every year. Maybe your mockingbird will return to your garden again in the future.

Thanks for the pix. I’d wager hornworms are not an issue for you.

tj

that's so sweet!

Lucky you to be so trusted.

That is so cool. Glad you shared the photo. That is one large plant!

That is awesome! Love the pic of the babies waiting to be fed!!

Very cool! I don't believe that I have ever seen a mockingbird. Please show a pic of an adult, if you can. :)

Glad you all liked the pics, although the parents never bothered with me I have seen them chase down squirrels that got too close to their nest so they can be aggressive. Here are pics of an adult and their eggs which are colorfully speckled....(not my pics, copied from the web)...

They sure like to chat a lot! I wonder if she'll teach them to chatter before they leave the nest? That would be funny.

Maybe the mockingbird will keep tomato hornworms off your plant. I was unlucky and had a rat make a home in one of my tomato plants.

A Rat!!?.....that tops me, nyuk.

No hornwoms so far this season, I think my wasps keep them in check along with other caterpillar types.

Did you get nightly concert medleys from the father before this?

Actually both parents have been very quiet and stealthy. I'm glad I took that pic when I did because the chicks are gone today. I know that they hatched out just 3-4 days ago but they vanished over night. Can birds move their young hatchlings to a new nest? Hard to beleive that the chicks had enough time to mature and fly off on their own.

I have a couple birds that look similar that are squawky and bossy. Maybe they have a nest around the garden.

One year'they' built a nest on my light at the front door.

Unfortunately, it is likely the babies were eaten by some predator. Snakes and raccoons are common culprits.

I don't think they were eaten by a predator if the plant doesn't looked messed up. Could you see how feathered they were recently?

I always have a rabbit nest somewhere in my garden. Last year it was in one of my bush bean beds. I found the babies when I was picking and they all baled out of the bed but didn't go far. A couple days later the babies were back in the nest.

catherinet, the nest appeared normal, just empty. The chicks were still tiny and virtually naked so 3-4 days after hatching seemed rarther fast for them to depart on their own. Maybe a snake? no raccoons around here but there are black snakes around.

vgkg. :-(

Yes sad,...but I don't know enough about birds in general to know if they are capable of moving baby chicks from an endangered nest to a new safer nest they built in another location? If that is possible then the parents may have gotten too tired of me probing around their nest? I'd like to think that's what happened rather than the alternative.

I'm pretty sure mockingbirds steal other bird's nests. That's why they have so many bird calls, to lure the songbirds from their nests. That's also why you hear them less after breeding season.

OTOH, we just noticed that the previous owner put in those spikey things to prevent birds from nesting..............there's a nest right in the middle of the spikes! LOL