The Eggs Have Hatched!!!

So today I'm watching the nest outside our kitchen window and I notice that the mother cardinal has flown away.

I'm hoping that her eggs have hatched and she's out picking up dinner for her new family. I was able to peek inside her nest while she was away and snap two fast pictures:

There were two eggs and now you can see two things in this nest. The strange thing is that one baby is much larger than the other. But if you click here and take a look at the eggs, you will see that one is almost twice the size of the other. I did not see the larger baby move, but the smaller one was flapping it's wings and opening it's beak as if I were it's mother feeding it.

They are 1-2 days old (I checked the nest 2 days ago and the eggs hadn't hatched yet.)

I love this time of year and the beautiful animals we get to see! You will be seeing more photos as they develop!

"Honey, I'm Home! And I've Got a Surprise for You!"

Why wouldn't we want a rat snake in our home as a pet?

That's the question I get from my husband in our living room after he begins to untie the "snake case" (which was my pillow case before he removed it from our linens closet).

I chase Michael shaking my finger at him all the way out of the house. I'm not having him release snakes in our home to crawl around any more!

Michael loves reptiles, especially snakes. I don't mind snakes if they are non-venomous. I do, however, (just for the record) do mind it when my husband releases a live non-venomous snake into my bed while I'm sleeping. I will say that I don't think he will do that again.

Baby Opossums Peeping Outside Their Mother's Pouch

I've never seen a baby opossum before. Even with these photos, you may have to take my word for it that they are SO stinkin' cute!

Three (of at least 6, I would guess) babies popped their heads out. One actually came out to play for a while.

In the video below one of the babies is super tired and keeps yawning. So cute! Another tries to crawl out but the mother stops it by moving her leg.

Cardinal Nest and Eggs

Michael and I watched the mother cardinal put this nest together two weeks ago. She would fly across the yard and grab a stem and come back to stuff it into her nest. There was a male cardinal who looked like he was standing guard the entire time. When I came outside to watch her closer the male (guessing it was the father) would chirp. The mother did not return to her nest building until the father was quite and all was safe.

For a week we didn't see any activity at the nest. Yesterday I noticed the mother returned to the nest where she sat. Today I noticed she wasn't around so I peeped in to see if she had laid her eggs yet.

How beautiful! Perfect speckled blue eggs.

One egg had either fallen out, been pushed out or was kidnapped from the nest and was broken on the ground next to it.

I can't wait until the eggs hatch and the babies are here! I will share photos when they come!

Mother Raccoon With Her Four Babies

The mother stands over her babies to protect them. But they only have one thing on their mind: food. In the video below, one of the babies cry's for her mother. You will be hearing more of this sound this season if you stay posted, I guarantee it.

Young Raccoon Gets Mad When I Get Too Close

This young raccoon came home with Michael from work this week. Normally the animals Michael removes from people's homes or businesses are female. That's because the females look for a safe place to give birth to and raise their babies. A building is a wonderful place to nest.

This young male raccoon must be high maintenance as he found himself comfortable in the controlled environment of someone's home.

Opossum Children

My heart skips a few beats any day my phone buzz's or rings with the word's "Michael's cell" displayed on the screen.

Michael calls me now and then just to check on me and say hi. So sweet.

Other times he's calling to tell me a story about something that happened while he was at work. He works with animals, so usually his stories are crazier than I could imagine. And pictures speak a thousand words - so sometimes he'll skip the story and just send a picture.

Without it I would have been clueless: but with this picture he sent some text, "opossum children."

Life for the wild is rough. If you had a pet opossum it would live many years longer than it would out of captivity. Michael does his best to protect the safety of the animals he works with, but sometimes they just don't make it. Don't get upset, these little "opossum children" are going strong, thanks to some friends at Bay Animal Clinic. But the reason Bay Animal Clinic has the babies is because their mother didn't make it.

Many people don't know that opossums are marsupials. That means they have a pouch like a kangaroo, where they store and feed their young. Michael found the adult opossum dead and took a closer look when he noticed the stomach moving. He reached his hand into the pouch and out he pulled these three little rascals!

It's the time of year when all kinds of strange creatures are born. Who knows what we'll have in our home next. These words race through my mind as I tense up each time Michael reaches me from work. With that all I can say is: Stay tuned.