Another Bloomsday

On this day last year, I spent 6 hours babysitting. I sat and watched a baby chickadee which had fallen from the nest in our dogwood into a thick epimedium plant at the base recover from the fall and start the climb back up again. Led by his frantically calling parents, the wee one literally wobbled then hopped up and up over those 6 hours to the level of the nest (7-8 feet off the ground) and then to a further branch until it finally sat and rested at about the 12 foot level. It was my last sight of the bird. It flew after a brief rest at that height, never to be recognized afterwards. Of course, I've seen many, many chickadees in that tree since but none that I firmly know as Leopold, the name I gave him after about 3 hours of rebounding from his fall last Bloomsday. So, today, a year on, I saw another chickadee in the dogwood early this morning and hoped it was the fellow I babysat and will never forget.
Instead of watching and fretting over a little chickadee, I transferred my observances to our Merlins who seem to be confusing us this year, their third in our neck of the woods. Apparently, Spike (female) and Thor (male) have been joined in their nesting by another pair! Now, we witnessed, last time we watched them at the nest site, a "spare" Merlin (probably male) flying near the nest and wondered whether it could be one of the offspring from the past two years. This "pair" of "accompanying" Merlins might indeed be 2 of last year's brood but what they are doing hanging around and why is a complete mystery. Equally a mystery is this year's nest as it is entirely fir covered. You simply cannot see it via binoculars or, presumably, scope either so there is no knowing, this year, just how many chicks there are or will be!
My viewing tonight was, then, of Mom and Pop, aka Spike and Thor. It was a treat to hear that familiar, loud call and then see them soaring to their perches by the nest tree. Spike looked quite pretty and full in the late day light and posed for me for quite a while. I suppose she was warming herself and taking a rest from sitting on the nest. Anyway, if I couldn't recognize Leopold here, I could recognize Spike there and that made this Bloomsday another memorable one.