Looking in All the Wrong Places

I take notice each morning when leaving the house of the mating pair of cardinals in my backyard...usually low in the magnolia tree chirping at me; clearly warning me. They must have their nest in that tree.

I sit on my back porch scanning through the tree for the nest. I look each morning from the higher vantage point of my shower window for it. The tree is so dense with leaves, it's hard to see anything in there.

Then, in the early evening yesterday I was reading on the back porch and the cardinal pair was sitting on the fence behind me chirping exuberantly. I turned slowly to look at them and, as I turned, I looked right at the nest...in the rose bush that climbs the trellis over my back porch. At standing height, it is around eye level. I'm not tall enough to see in it.

When I peer out my back door quietly, I can see a little cardinal head peeping out of the nest. I note they fly away whenever I go outside; whenever I let the dogs out.

I do hope they adjust to us...this year they were here first and deserve to nurture their babies in peace.