I keep a holiday wreath on my front porch year round. (I even try to change the decorations occasionally to suit the season.) In the past I would get around to taking it down sometime in February or March. However, several years ago, some birds took up residence in it. Since that time there have been three separate nests built in it. The original was built by wrens, the one from last year housed robin eggs and now some house finches have taken over the nesting site. They're very sweet, with delicate brown feathers and soft rosy heads.
It's very satisfying to watch them prepare the nest from my own perch in my sunroom. The birds take exception, though, when I go in or out of the front door. They let me know how unhappy they are by fluttering their wings at me and squawking. I try leaving them little gifts of soft golden retriever fur to line their nest. Sometimes they accept my offerings and other times ignore them. (I remove any cat silhouettes from the windows for the duration so as not to alarm them.)
I'm hoping that these little house finches will be secure enough to lay their precious eggs in the nest. If I'm lucky, one morning I'll wake up to the chirp of baby birds. Then I can watch them grow for a few days until they're ready to leave the nest.
It does my heart good to see the life cycle completed right outside my window. And it gives me hope that spring will indeed come soon.
1 comments:
Okay, so a few weeks later, not only are there not peeping chicks in the nest... the mother bird is in there DEAD! Now, that is NOT the way I expected this to turn out!
So, the big question becomes... How did this happen? Was she attacked by viscious robins that wanted to take over the nest? Did she get her talons stuck in the soft, fluffy dog fur I set out for her? Did she die from a heart attack when I came out the front door? (I'm told I do have that effect on people.)
So much for my attempt at a nature blog posting.
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