Hey! How'd they do that?!

When last we visited the nest, the babies were positioned beak to tail, wedged in as tight as they could get. I figured that's how we'd see them until they fledged, since there's no possible way they could jump up, turn around, and reposition themselves beak to beak. Well, I guess I was wrong.

And look! That's a little eye peering back at me! It's nice to know they can now look around and see what's going on in this corner of the world. I imagine they're thinking, "Sheesh, mom! Couldn't you have chosen one of the green branches on this bush instead of a dead branch? And what's with the bulldog? He acts like this bush belongs to him!"

Also, we've decided on names for our little family. After calling the mother bird "Mama Bird" for a few weeks, that morphed into Mama Rose. That would make the duo in the nest Baby June and Louise, right? (And we can always fall back to Baby James and Louis if necessary, right?)

Mama Rose is enjoying her relative freedom these days. She's not at the nest all the time anymore, but she does come by to feed the kids now and then, especially around dusk. She spends much of her time running off interlopers who want to help themselves to her feeder, or just resting on a nearby palm...on the other side of the yard. Mother's day out, right?