Remember how sad I was finding little holes on my new duvets at the terrace? Little vandals were not identified. I did prepare-as my blogger friends proposed some soft wool treads as building material for nests, namely insulation, to be used next time. In vain, duvets provide much softer material, again, this spring, there were little holes all over my duvets. I decided not to bother any more and to look at the bright side of life instead, although some frustration remained. Until yesterday, when we ‘we heard tiny birds calling their mother !Little vandals have a nest under the roof of our terrace!Here are the first exclusive photos of newborns,my son took them from a safe distance, not to disturb them.From now on they can help them self with my duvets as much as they want to,after all they are the cutest little birds with the cutest birdie mum!
My Botanical Garden 
18 replies on “The cutest little vandals from My botanical garden”
I love the shots especially with the babies! I almost got one like that of mockingbird chicks but the mama bird came back to the tree and I was afraid she’d peck my eyes out.
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I believe she would get angry! That is why those pics were taken from a safe distance!
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Aww they are so sweet. And those birds made a beautiful home for their babies ; very resourceful 🙂
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You should hear them, calling their mum!
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I am sure they make themselves heard.
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I think this is the female of a Eurasian Black Redstart. I’ve never seen them and I am very happy to meet the female and her chicks at your blog. What a lovely post and I do well remember your ‘trouble’ with your vandals.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Redstart)
Wishing you and your birds all the best.
Paula
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Thank you Paula,I was not able to determine this birds name and now you have solved it ! I hope in next days my son will be able to make some more pics! All the best from Ljubljana!
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How adorable. Your lovely post has made me smile. All babies are gorgeous. My new grandchild is due today (but it will probably be late!) so I felt very clucky when I read your news.
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How great news-I wish all the best to your grandchild!
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How wonderful!
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Thank you!
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Where do you live, tamara? I mean, in what country, what part of the country? As a birdwatcher, I have a strong idea of what that bird is, but am quite surprised.
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Simon,sorry for late reply-I was just too sad to write.It looks all little birds and their mom perhaps, too, are dead. For it was so noisy at the terrace, then it rained for a week and we left birds alone, but suddenly we recognised there is no more birds calling their mum…and on the table, under the nest there were some larvae falling down from the nest…we just couldn’t go up to see what is going on.I think one of the young birds on my pictures looks different-do you think it could be cuckoo?
All this (and much more 😉 ) is happening in Slovenia!
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Sorry to hear that. This could have happened for a number of reasons. Most likely it was just the rain, stopping the parents from gathering food, so the chicks died. It could be one of the parents, most likely the mother, died. It’s unlikely to have been a cuckoo as that would have ejected the other young and continued to get fed by the parents. I’ve looked back at the pictures of the chicks and while one doesn’t seem to have a yellow gape, that could be a trick of the light or how far its mouth was open or just individual variation. Otherwise they look much the same. A young Cuckoo would already have been much bigger.
The adult bird is a Black Redstart female. If you never saw the male (which is black with a red tail) it may be he’d died early in the process, which would have made the nest very vulnerable.
Telling me it was in Slovenia solves my problem. This species doesn’t occur in the Americas and is very uncommon in Britain, where it nests mostly on building sites or big non-residential buildings like nuclear power stations. It first got established during the Second World War, breeding on sites which had been bombed. In most of southern Europe, though, it’s common in and around towns and does breed on houses, though it still likes places such as power stations, supermarkets and big office blocks.
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Thank you for giving name to my birdie. I like to watch birds but I am terribly bad at naming them. Who knows, there around are plenty of them, I hope we will get new guests soon! Do we have to remove the empty nest or not? Thank you for your answers!
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The fall of maggots suggests (sorry – no sensitive way to say this) that the chicks are dead in the nest. If so, yes, if you want the site to be available for re-use, remove the nest. Horrible job.
The female Black Redstart is not particularly easy to identify unless you’re a practiced birder. The male is unmistakeable if you get a decent view.
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Thank you for this advice-this weekend we are removing the nest.Good news: there are some Black Redstarts around the house AND another bird sitting on a nest at the terrace-will make a photo 🙂
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Great! Thanks for the feedback.
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