My Baby Birds

It seems no matter where I live, each spring a cute little bird finds my property hospitable enough to build a nest and raise her young.

This year a little bird and her mate tried to build a nest in my front door wreath. That didn't work well for any of us. The first time I went out the door I nearly had a heart attack when she fluttered away. I'm sure she could have said the same. They gave up and tried the neighbor's wreath instead.

A few weeks later I was rummaging around in the shed looking for something and reached up on a high shelf for a pot. Something fairly large and fuzzy brushed against my hand in a frantic attempt to get away from me. I'm not squeamish, but it startled me and I gave a little squeal. My toddler laughed at me; he thought I was funny! "Momma say, EEK! Ha ha!" All I could think was, "Bats!"

Then I saw the nest. I hadn't noticed it before because I collect bird nests and it was one of mine I'd left out in the shed. Upon closer inspection, I saw it had been altered and had five eggs in it! Somebody hijacked my nest!

A few weeks later, three of the eggs hatched. Mama Bird could be seen flying to and from the shed with worms all day long. She always stopped on the roof of the shed to survey things before slipping in under the eaves. My toddler's job was to keep the bird feeder stocked with seed for Mama Bird.

We checked on the nest every few days. One of the babies didn't make it and we found his little body laying outside the nest. We had a little burial by a rose bush and my son put a dandelion on his grave.

Here are the last two house sparrow chicks. They weren't the least bit concerned about me bothering them. They looked at me, decided I didn't have any worms and then settled down for a nap!

A week later, the nest was empty and there was bird poop all over the shed, so I assume they learned to fly inside the shed! At least they were sheltered from preditors while they fluttered about. I checked inside pots and the bag of potting soil to be sure no one got stuck inside, but everything was empty. Since the shed doesn't stink (any worse than it did before!) I suppose they made it out!

A Finch Nest

One lonely egg! I keep hoping there will be more, but there's been no activity today in the nest. I'm afraid the birds may have abandoned it after my dog scared them by running out the front door last night to greet someone.

I am fascinated by bird nests and eggs. I have a small collection of abandoned nests I've collected over the years. I like to set them in a decorative bowls and display them about the house.

I don't know what it is about me and my homes that seem to attract finches in particular. A finch has built a nest on the top of one of the columns on my porch this year. Maybe they can tell I'm bird friendly. Unfortunately, my dog is not.

Last year, in a completely different house in a completely different state, a finch built two nests in each of my hanging ferns. I read where the males do that, build several nests for the female to choose from. When she picks one she likes, she pads it with fluff to her liking and settles in. She chose the fern furthest from the front door and laid some eggs in it.

Here's where the story gets interesting. A cowbird came along and laid two of her eggs in with the others. The mama finch seemed to accept the donations and continued her attentions.

The problem was the cowbird eggs hatch earlier than the finch eggs. If the baby finches hatch at all, they're so tiny the baby cowbirds, who are much larger, attack and kill them. (I read all this while researching why the eggs in the nest looked different. It puzzled me and I wanted to identify whose eggs they were.)

Turns out, in "my" nest, the finch eggs never hatched because the baby cowbirds pecked them to death. Then one cowbird chick turned on the other and killed him. Cowbirds are apparently nasty fellows with a strong survival instinct. Poor mama finch ended up unknowingly raising someone else's offspring. Oh well, I suppose what she didn't know caused no harm. Maybe she gained experience being a mama and will do an even better job next year with another brood (of her own, hopefully).

So what will become of my new finch nest this year?? Will the mama come back?? Stay tuned!