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Between the cats and the chickens, our homestead has never been lacking for bad craziness.
Now, we have a NEW resident. A bird. A very SMALL bird. And she's a momma bird. I have no idea what kind of bird. It has feathers and a very small brain .. that's what kind of bird it is.
Here's our front door. I really like our front door. I picked it specifically for the stained glass circular insert. It's pretty.
See that yellow arrow on the right hand side? That points to a ceramic sign that I bought, not too long ago.
Above the sign, near the roofline, is our porch light. It looks like an old-fashioned lantern. I like it too.
Here's the sign. Truer words were never spoken. It was as though they KNEW our place.
Back to the small bird. About a week ago, I noticed that every time we opened the front door and walked out onto the porch, a small bird flew AWAY from the door, out towards the trees on the fence line. Then I noticed that .. oh my gosh .. there was a NEST built on top of our porch light! Yes, the nest is fully constructed; it's obviously been there for *a while*.
Just call me Capt. Obvious. Or not.
Anyway, the bird was deliberately trying to deflect our attention from the nest to her ... and she was flying away. "Come this way! Chase me!" or "Move along. This is not the nest you have been looking for." :-)
Being the nosey kind of person that I am, I had Mr. Pirate get a ladder and he looked into the nest. Oh my. There were 4 little blue eggs. This picture doesn't show the pretty blue color; the flash washed it out. But without the flash, the picture was way too dark to be able to see anything.
So now, we can't use our front door; it disturbs momma bird. Geez, Louise! Exactly who is paying the property taxes here????
We have a *perfectly* wonderful, honest-to-goodness bird house on the chimney. It has a vacancy; it's waiting for a resident.
Does momma bird use the bird house?
Noooooooooooooooo. *She's* gotta use an impractical spot above our front porch light!
Anyone know how long it'll take for the eggs to hatch and babies to be independent? Cuz until then, we're forced into using the back door!
(Sorry for the dark picture of Momma bird. Evening was fast approaching and we were losing the light.)
Now, we have a NEW resident. A bird. A very SMALL bird. And she's a momma bird. I have no idea what kind of bird. It has feathers and a very small brain .. that's what kind of bird it is.
See that yellow arrow on the right hand side? That points to a ceramic sign that I bought, not too long ago.
Above the sign, near the roofline, is our porch light. It looks like an old-fashioned lantern. I like it too.
Just call me Capt. Obvious. Or not.
Anyway, the bird was deliberately trying to deflect our attention from the nest to her ... and she was flying away. "Come this way! Chase me!" or "Move along. This is not the nest you have been looking for." :-)
So now, we can't use our front door; it disturbs momma bird. Geez, Louise! Exactly who is paying the property taxes here????
We have a *perfectly* wonderful, honest-to-goodness bird house on the chimney. It has a vacancy; it's waiting for a resident.
Does momma bird use the bird house?
Noooooooooooooooo. *She's* gotta use an impractical spot above our front porch light!
(Sorry for the dark picture of Momma bird. Evening was fast approaching and we were losing the light.)
Ah sweet, love this. Roughly 60 to 64 days from the time the birds start laying on the eggs, you'll have little ones and then another month before theses little ones will start flying.
ReplyDeleteSo 3 months of using the back door for you!
Hettie. Oh perfect. Just perfect. Mr. Pirate is all ready to set up safety cones leading up to the front door. I think a sign ought to be posted directing people to the back door for the duration.
ReplyDeleteSheesh.
Thanks for the info; I'm thrilled.
Or not. :-)
Your nest looks suspiciously like a house sparrow nest and eggs. They diligently try to nest in our carport, and I pull the nests down. Not a bird that needs fostering. They are an invasive species that doesn't belong here, to the detriment of native songbirds. I don't think it would bother them if you chose to go in and out the front door! ;-)
ReplyDeleteWe had a bird build a nest (more than once) in a void over our main door. You were there first, use the door. It's not that big of a deal. Maybe (only maybe) she'll realize that next year she should build somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteLike Hilda, we sometimes have to pull down nests in the early stages. One year we had a VERY persistent bird that kept trying to nest behind one of the exposed can lights. I didn't want to go 2-3 months without being able to turn on the outside lights, nor did I want the droppings, etc on my deck and BBQ, so we kept removing her sticks. She eventually went away, LOL
That's a lovely story. I hope you will keep us posted. Perhaps you should leave the ladder set up so that you can sneak up for more photos.
ReplyDelete