Birdies, birdies everywhere
There’s a bird nest in our front porch light. I discovered this when I watered the impatience in the flower box beneath the light and mama bird flew off in a blur of wings. We’re trying to not use the front door for awhile, instead going in and out from the deck or the back yard.
The light bulb sits inside an iron frame with large cutouts to let the light through. The nest itself sits between the frame and the light bulb. Mama bird is quite smart—she chose a sheltered place that is protected from rain (our front porch is covered on top) and safe from kitties, crows and other predators.
My husband thought he saw the female’s mate on the deck railing. He found a photo in a bird book and believes our guests are house finches.
We’re honored that they family settled here and are excitedly waiting for the day when the eggs hatch and the babies begin their lives.
Does anyone have a special animal story to share?
Until next time,
Ann Roth
www.annroth.net
Filed under: General Musings
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The birds that built a nest under the eaves by our front door are swallows. They’ve used the same nest for several years, so we always look forward to seeing if the swallows will return.
They don’t much like us using the front door, but we don’t really have a good option. It’s always fun to see the little ones popping up to see if we’re there to feed them.
Good morning, ladies!
A few years ago I had an orchid die in it’s hanging basked in my back porch. I pretty much forgot about it for a few weeks, but when I went to take it down to plant something else there, I couldn’t–there were four baby sparrows crying there, and a couple of very upset parents flying around my head
Unfortunately they haven’t come back to that same spot
Every year that we’ve lived in this house, we’ve had a cardinal’s nest in a bush outside our bedroom window. The nest is in the right spot to watch the eggs and birds hatch. When our boys were younger, they would bring friends in to watch the process. They all especially liked to see the babies being fed. This has been going on for years and we’re sure every cardinal in the neighborhood must be related to our family by now!
No baby bird stories, but I feed the doves, blue jays, cardinals and other birds in my back yard. One day this huge black bird showed up. Something is wrong with his left foot because he limps. I’ve named him the Gimpster. I toss him shelled peanuts which he limps over to pick up in the grass. This guy is the boldest bird I’ve ever known. He comes right up to me waiting for his peanuts. He doesn’t even fly away when the dog barks at him from the screened patio or when the squirrels try to steal his peanuts. Yesterday I tossed him a piece of bread. He took it over to the birdbath and dunked it before eating it. I’ve always loved dunking cookies. Now, there’s a bird after my own heart.
Alexis- That’s so fun! I never knew.
Azteclady- That is so cool! I’m thinking birdies are very good at turning just about anyplace into a home. Something I envy. Wouldn’t it be fun to build yourself a cozy, yet inexpensive (free!!) home here and there, at whichever place strikes your fancy?
Tessa- How cool your boys and friends were able to watch and enjoy the cardinal family.
I’m tellin’ you, this topic makes me smile.
One morning I heard an extreme amount of bird-noise from the front yard. When I looked out, it was to see one of the cats sitting on the ground at the bottom of the tree looking up, a squirrel complete with twitching tail on a high branch, and, higher still, a couple of birds. The birds and the squirrel were holding quite a conversation. I don’t know what the cat was thinking, but he was certainly entranced!
Reminds of our our first home.. in the townhouse we had a birds make their nest in our exhaust vent. We’d watch them fly in and out making the nest. We couldn’t see the nest but heard the birds.
Nancy- You’re a birdie mom. So cool. LOL. There’s a woman who owns a B&B in Bandon, OR, who does the same thing with two permanently injured seagulls. I featured her B&B as well as her and the gulls (fictitiously, of course) in a mini-series for Harlequin American.
Liz- Wow, that’s fascinating. I wonder what folks who study animals would say about that?!
Ann M- Did that cause problems later? Blocking an exhaust vent could, I’m thinking.
For me, it seems I’m a cat lady, lol. I own a dog, always have preferred dogs, but stray cats like to find my deck and want to sleep there. There was one cat that came by very often, but I have not seen it for awhile, I think something bad might have happened, it was very cautious, but knew I’d feed him, so it would always return, it was smart too, knew to look up at the window to see if I was wtching. It was so pretty, I always called it my kitty friend.
Our neighborhood is big on mourning doves, as well as every type of bird
know to the Houston area! One year , when the children were young, a
Mommy dove built a nest on the brick “wing” directly in front of the front
door. We watched the activities from the door, but never saw any little
ones. The hardest thing was trying to keep the children from climbing up
to get a closer look at the action!!
Pat Cochran
No… because it was right at the entrance of the vent. There was probably some wiring to stop them from entering the house. Since this was our first home and we didn’t have a lot to entertain ourselves.. it was a show to sit at the window and watch the birds go back and forth.
I’ve always loved cats but my parents never allowed us to have pets. So thankfully, my longing was cured by my neighbor’s cat. She loves to come over my house and play with me. The best part is she goes home to eat and sleep. Her playtime is spent with me
Dina- that’s funny about cats loving you–when you’re a dog person.
I hope that stray turns up again.
Pat- I’ll bet your kids will always remember that nest.
Ann M- I’m glad they couldn’t get all the way into the house.
Bunnyb- That’s sweet. Maybe someday you’ll have your own kitty …
My brother was always coming home with all sorts of animals, bugs, frogs. One day he found a baby blue jay who fell out of the nest in a tree in our front yard (overhanding the front porch) with a broken wing. He took care of it until the wing mended and it could fly, but we couldn’t go out on our front porch for about a month without mama bluejay swooping down to attack us. She got my poor young brother first, pecked his head, then my mother. Everyone was afraid to go out on the porch to check the mail, lol. My mother was the most scared after getting pecked, had to think of bribes to get one of us to check the mail for her after the mailman came every day.
I had a similar event last 2-3 weeks or so. In my room, there was 2 baby birds just born. I didn’t notice them until they chirped constantly in the morning. They can sure make alot of noise especially when the momma bird comes bring their food a couple of times a day. They finally flew out of the nest last week.
Ann,
How funny! You comment that my children will remember
that particular bird nest and one of them did recently make
mention of our former dove neighbor!
Pat Cochran