Great-tailed Grackle Quiscalus mexicanus

My favorite thing right now is forward-facing Brewer's Blackbirds. Just so you know.

Virginia Wildlife; vol. 32, no. 6. June, 1971. Illustration by John W. Taylor.

I said I was going to post about the baby birds, so here it is, because I love them and I want to share this experience.

One day, I came home, only to find a nest outside one of my windows. I noticed that birds started nesting sometimes in March, but I certainly didn't expect one pair would do it this close. I didn't see it, either, until it was fully built. I was surprised how fast it appeared. They're very efficient.

Immediately afterwards, on 30th of March, the first egg appeared. (Let's appreciate for a moment the tragedy that this happened only one day before April 1st.)

I wasn't sure what kind of bird it was, but @the-sparrohawk, immediately identified it as a blackbird egg, which is so impressive! I had no idea what blackbird eggs looked like until then.

One by one, day by day, more eggs were added, until we were at five. On 4th April, the party was complete.

Let's say that suddenly I understood why they lay them one by one. That's a lot! I mean, I've got plenty of experience with chickens, but I guess I'd just never thought about songbirds much in this department.

I was also surprised to see the eggs "abandoned" for quite some time. I didn't know female blackbirds start sitting on them once they've popped them all out. That's exactly what happened here, as well. Once mamma was done laying them, she sat on them almost without a break for about two weeks. She only left the nest to have a little snack from time to time. I even noticed the father hanging around at times. I tried not to approach the nest too much, because I didn't want to scare them off. I only did so to snap a picture occasionally when I noticed that the parents were both gone.

Blackbirds are some of my favourite birds, so I was really excited. They sing so beautifully. I don't know how common they are elsewhere in the world, but they're quite common here. Male blackbirds are black with bright yellow beak, but females are brown with less noticeable beak, as you'll see further in the post. Blackbirds seem to often mate for life and both parents take care of the young.

But anyway, now the fun part.

Day 1

On the 15th of April, four gummy bears appeared in the nest. They were blind and naked. They weren't even strong enough to lift their heads. I wondered if the last one was going to hatch, as well.

Day 2

The following day, I discovered that the last one had escaped the eggshell prison, as well. We got five jelly beans. When mamma wasn't hunting for food, she sat on them to keep them warm. Pappa didn't sit on the nest, but he did bring food. I suppose it makes sense, considering their colouring. The female blackbird is less visible on the nest than her strikingly black-coloured male partner. Very handsome, but impractical in this case, clearly. [nods sagely]

Day 3

At this point, I gave in to temptation and ordered the cheapest IP camera I could find online so that I could watch them whenever I felt like it without bothering them - I assumed that might be the only time I might make use of it, so I didn't want to spend a lot. The quality wasn't amazing, but it did its job.

I installed the camera and hoped that the birds wouldn't be too weirded out by the new addition to their environment. Mamma didn't know what to make of it at first, but after she made sure it presented no danger, she wasn't too bothered.

Dad didn't give a flying fuck. Girl got herself a beautiful himbo. He had one mission, and that was to feed the babies, and by the gods, he was going to do it. He didn't care about any alien devices appearing out of nowhere.

One thing I discovered this way and found very amusing was that because the babies were blind and slept most of the time, mamma always poked them to wake them up for feeding. Then the little ones started sort of flailing around with open mouths. It was fun to watch.

Day 4

They were growing so fast! On the fourth day, 18th April, you could already see a little fluff and signs of wing feathers.

Day 5

They looked incredibly silly (affectionate), but they were starting to resemble birds. The sparse fluff on their heads is killing me.

Day 6

I could swear that they were growing right in front of my eyes. I could turn around for five minutes and they'd get bigger in meantime. Or so it seemed. Less than a week since hatching, they were almost filling the nest. The wing feathers had grown stronger.

Day 7

Signs of feathers started to appear on their heads and backs, too. At this point, I noticed that one of them was smaller than the rest. It was probably the one that hatched last. I named it Doomguy to send it some positive vibes, which of course did nothing. Please, don't get attached to it. I'm sorry to say that one didn't make it. I'm not going to keep it a surprise.

Day 8

Status: Skrungly. Getting floofier.

They got more lively. They begged for food more aggressively. It was funny to see how the parents sometimes looked at them with what almost seemed like confusion about the bottomless pits wiggling in front of them.

My coworker said that they reminded her of carnivorous plants, and honestly, I see it.

I almost forgot to mention that the parents were flying back and forth with food every few minutes. And by every few minutes, I mean every 10 - 20 minutes. All day. Mamma occasionally sat on them and also during the night to keep them warm, but as they were growing more feathery, she did it less and less. Childcare is pretty intense when you're a blackbird.

Day 9

Optical sensors online! The nest was packed. Mischief ensued. They started to get more active, but still kept to the nest. They were grooming and stretching and used their little leggys for scratching. They also looked like a bunch of balding disgruntled old men. Hungy, eepy, pissed off.

I was still hoping at this point that the smallest one was going to make it, even though it was growing and developing much slower than the rest. It was clear that it was either sickly or unable to compete for food with its stronger siblings or both. I was terribly tempted to go buy some worms and try to feed it myself, but I was worried I could endanger the whole nest by messing with it. If a nest is disrupted, baby birds can leave it prematurely. Or they could panic and fall off. I didn't want to risk scaring off the parents, either. I tried to educate myself on what could be done, but found nothing useful. It felt bad, but I decided not to interfere and let nature do its thing.

Day 10

Look at that, they look like birds! Incredibly silly birds (affectionate), but birds. They were getting properly feathery.

Day 11

They basically wouldn't sit still any more, but they slept cuddled together at night. Mamma wouldn't sit on them any more, either, since they could keep each other warm and also had grown feathers enough.

At some point, dad flew in with snacks while I was standing right there. Startled the shit out of me. I always tried to give them space and only approached occasionally to snap a few higher quality pictures, maybe make a short video. This time he surprised me, though, so we met.

Fortunately, he was completely unbothered.

Day 12

Look at my little chickens. They grow up so fast. They still look ridiculous.

The feeding time started getting almost a little scary.

I wonder if they could eat their parents.

Day 13

The little one was gone. It either died overnight or during the morning. It passed in the nest and the parents cleaned it up. It's sad, but at least the rest of them was all right. We got four healthy, lively baby birds almost ready to fly. They were very restless at this point, frequently grooming, stretching their wings and even trying them out.

The other siblings look a little unimpressed, I've got to say.

Day 14

During my lunch break, I noticed through the IP camera app that three of the babies had left the nest. Sadly, I missed that. One of them was more hesitant, though. I rushed home after work, hoping to see them still somewhere around.

Fortunately, when I arrived, they were still nearby, screaming for food. Blackbird parents feed their young for about two weeks after they leave the nest. So, I just followed the hungry yelling and found all three, while the last one was still gathering courage:

They'd just left the nest and suddenly some of them were up in the trees? Unbelievable! (They didn't make this sort of unholy noise in the nest, by the way. They were making cute little peeps, kind of like little chickens.)

The last one left the nest a few hours later than its siblings. It just needed a little more time. Eventually, it got ready, left me a little parting gift (💩) and fluttered off the windowsill.

I was so happy for them and that I got to experience all this.