june was for the baby birds…

and this baby cardinal had one very hardworking daddy.

I spotted it one morning in early june sitting in a laurel tree. Mommy cardinal was there also but was a bit camera shy. Male cardinals are the brightly colored, radiantly red ones, while the females are soft muted brown with the cutest orange beaks.

I took these photos off of our balcony, and continued shooting until daddy cardinal encouraged it to try flying to another tree.

I took so many photos that I decided to create a video from the image sequence of still shots of the baby cardinal being cared for by its gorgeously red daddy.

baby bird in a laurel tree from dale ocasio on Vimeo.

For the sound track, I used iphone's voice memos app to record the call of a male cardinal. Quicktime player pro was used to sequence the images together.

This was my first, ever, video upload to vimeo. It was easy, and I imagine that I will be using this free service much more in the near future.

 

Four days later I spotted baby cardinal in our mango tree. Baby is starting to look more like a cardinal.

Still being cared for by both mom and dad, and has become much better at flying.

Most of the time he sits and waits, looking into the sky.  His mouth would open whenever something flew by, whether bird, butterfly or dragonfly.

Here is another still shot image sequence of the whole photo shoot.

baby bird in a mango tree...four days later from dale ocasio on Vimeo.

 

This month, our carport rafters were home to a carolina wren and her babies (inside of the base of a lamp we’re hoarding---no less).

On their first day out in the world, I was fortunate enough to see one taking it all in before it flew over the fence to follow its siblings.

I don’t believe feather tufts could be any cuter on a baby bird. I wonder if mommy and daddy birds are also just as charmed by them, or if they’re too busy ensuring their family’s survival that they don’t ever have a chance to notice.

- - -I think I’ll miss you, june. You were a very sweet, sweet, month, and I’ll be looking forward to your visit next year.

your friend,
~dale