Apr 25th, 2008
New neighbors
About three weeks ago we noticed that some birds had built a nest in a copper hanging thing (I have no idea what to call it—I think it may technically be a bird feeder that we have never gotten around to filling with bird seed) on our front porch. We think the bird is some sort of wren. It’s small, and it is totally terrified of humans. At least, it flies away immediately whenever anyone opens the front door from the inside or approaches the porch from the outside. So we figure it’s either scared of us or it somehow thinks that by flying away it will convince us to leave the nest alone.
We have left the nest alone, of course. The day we noticed it we took a quick peek inside to confirm that there were three little eggs in it, and since then we were very careful to avoid the porch so we wouldn’t scare the bird. Having birds nesting on the porch has done wonders for motivating pokey toddlers to go inside or outside; Sylvia, too, rushes through the portal “so the mommy and daddy birds will come back right away and won’t be scared any more.”
Earlier this week, Jan announced that the eggs had hatched. He knew this because, as he put it, “I saw the parent puking into a baby bird’s mouth.” Yup, that’s a pretty good indication.
Today I managed to get a few pictures of the nest and its inhabitants. I didn’t spend much time fiddling around with the camera or positioning to get good quality. The parent bird gave me plenty of dirty looks when I snapped the first photo from just inside house. I didn’t want to stress it out any more by lingering too long near the nest while it went to get more food. But I did manage to catch a glimpse of three little ones snuggled up together.
Cute! Birds make for fun neighbors (except the bird droppings part). How neat that you have some *right on your front porch*!
Keep an eye on them, and you may get a chance to see them learn to fly! We’ve had the good luck to see baby birds learn to fly twice (both times when they nested near our house). It happens quickly, but it’s great fun!
We are watching the comings and goings of a bird family living in our backyard. Hubby put a very very old birdhouse in one of the fence posts. We don’t get to see the feeding tho.
Baby birds are so prehistoric looking, aren’t they?
Ahhhh the babies so cute! It’s amazing where birds will make their nests. You’ll get to see them grow and become stronger.
NOOOOOOOOOOOOES! BABY BIRDIES!!! So cute.
Why can’t I have baby birds make their home at my house instead of evil squirrels?