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About a month ago, I noticed that a pair of house finches were showing some interest in our hanging basket of snapdragons. I noticed a lot of fluttering in and out and knew what that meant.
So I pulled the basket down to toss out the bird's nest before it got too far underway or (worse) had eggs in it...and I was too late. There was the most precious, tiny little nest with five little eggs in it. Of course, I got all excited and squeeful and started checking it regularly and documenting my finds with pictures.
The baby birds are eleven days old today. Here are the pictures that I have of them so far.
The nest had five eggs in it: four were tiny and bluish; the fifth was larger and white with brownish spots. Clearly, it did not belong to the finches; I figured (and others have confirmed my suspicions) that there are local species that are too lazy to raise their own babies and so lay eggs in other birds' nests to have the other birds care for them.
My mom warned me of the possibility that the larger, foreign bird might push the little finch babies out of the nest. But because the nest is in the middle of a hanging basket, they'd only fall into the basket and not to the ground, so I was okay with that. And I prefer to think of the "foreign" bird as adopted instead.
Here is the nest before the eggs hatched. The adopted egg is noticeably different than the others.
On 18 May, when I pulled the basket down to check the eggs, I found quite a surprise! Three of the eggs had hatched--including the adopted egg--and we had baby birds! They're so ugly when they're first hatched though, all bald little bodies and hungry mouths. Here are the babies at Day One:
Eventually, four of the eggs hatched. I don't know what happened with the fifth; it wasn't pushed from the nest because it's nowhere to be found in the hanging basket or on the balcony. We ended up with three tiny baby finches and their larger, adopted sibling. Here they are at Day Six, slightly less ugly and starting to look like birds. The adopted bird has grown quite noticeably larger than his brothers and sisters. (He's also the one looking at the camera. He was always the first to respond when I would move the nest, opening his mouth to be fed. I was a bit concerned at first that he might take the others' food, but they all seem to be growing quite well.)
When I checked the birds the other day, the nest was getting crowded. They've all grown, especially the adopted bird, who looks like he's going to be quite large. Lo and behold, today I noticed something odd about the behavior of the mother and father birds, noticeably that they would fly at the balcony doors until I thought that they were going to crash, then flutter down to the balcony floor.
I'm a country girl at heart, and I knew what that meant. Sure enough, when I looked out the door, there's a little bird hopping around the balcony.
Apparently, the adopted bird either decided that he was ready to leave the nest or got overcrowded. (I figure the former because, otherwise, he could have simply settled in the flower basket. Also, he flutters strongly enough to break his fall when jumping from the table, I discovered when I tried to put him back in the nest.)
So here are the three remaining birds--the finches--now less crowded in the nest, today on Day Eleven:
And their adopted brother, being held bya strange girl in a zebra-print shirt and foodservice gloves me:
After he wriggled out of my hands, we discovered that he has learned how to perch...right on one of our lanterns!
He's taken to chirping almost constantly, and the parents now occupy themselves with feeding him on the balcony floor and feeding the other three in the planter. Actually, it really works quite well: The nest is no longer crowded and he's not in danger of being attacked by any predators on the ground. The worst part about it is that Bobby and I like to eat meals on our balcony, but now we'll have to wait until he flies off. He hops around constantly, and I'd be afraid of stepping on him.
So I pulled the basket down to toss out the bird's nest before it got too far underway or (worse) had eggs in it...and I was too late. There was the most precious, tiny little nest with five little eggs in it. Of course, I got all excited and squeeful and started checking it regularly and documenting my finds with pictures.
The baby birds are eleven days old today. Here are the pictures that I have of them so far.
The nest had five eggs in it: four were tiny and bluish; the fifth was larger and white with brownish spots. Clearly, it did not belong to the finches; I figured (and others have confirmed my suspicions) that there are local species that are too lazy to raise their own babies and so lay eggs in other birds' nests to have the other birds care for them.
My mom warned me of the possibility that the larger, foreign bird might push the little finch babies out of the nest. But because the nest is in the middle of a hanging basket, they'd only fall into the basket and not to the ground, so I was okay with that. And I prefer to think of the "foreign" bird as adopted instead.
Here is the nest before the eggs hatched. The adopted egg is noticeably different than the others.
On 18 May, when I pulled the basket down to check the eggs, I found quite a surprise! Three of the eggs had hatched--including the adopted egg--and we had baby birds! They're so ugly when they're first hatched though, all bald little bodies and hungry mouths. Here are the babies at Day One:
Eventually, four of the eggs hatched. I don't know what happened with the fifth; it wasn't pushed from the nest because it's nowhere to be found in the hanging basket or on the balcony. We ended up with three tiny baby finches and their larger, adopted sibling. Here they are at Day Six, slightly less ugly and starting to look like birds. The adopted bird has grown quite noticeably larger than his brothers and sisters. (He's also the one looking at the camera. He was always the first to respond when I would move the nest, opening his mouth to be fed. I was a bit concerned at first that he might take the others' food, but they all seem to be growing quite well.)
When I checked the birds the other day, the nest was getting crowded. They've all grown, especially the adopted bird, who looks like he's going to be quite large. Lo and behold, today I noticed something odd about the behavior of the mother and father birds, noticeably that they would fly at the balcony doors until I thought that they were going to crash, then flutter down to the balcony floor.
I'm a country girl at heart, and I knew what that meant. Sure enough, when I looked out the door, there's a little bird hopping around the balcony.
Apparently, the adopted bird either decided that he was ready to leave the nest or got overcrowded. (I figure the former because, otherwise, he could have simply settled in the flower basket. Also, he flutters strongly enough to break his fall when jumping from the table, I discovered when I tried to put him back in the nest.)
So here are the three remaining birds--the finches--now less crowded in the nest, today on Day Eleven:
And their adopted brother, being held by
After he wriggled out of my hands, we discovered that he has learned how to perch...right on one of our lanterns!
He's taken to chirping almost constantly, and the parents now occupy themselves with feeding him on the balcony floor and feeding the other three in the planter. Actually, it really works quite well: The nest is no longer crowded and he's not in danger of being attacked by any predators on the ground. The worst part about it is that Bobby and I like to eat meals on our balcony, but now we'll have to wait until he flies off. He hops around constantly, and I'd be afraid of stepping on him.
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(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 11:35 pm (UTC)(And when uppity people ask you when you are going to have kids, you can whip out these pictures and explain that you already have them.)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-29 11:58 pm (UTC)I watched a lot of babies growing up when I was a kid and we'd frequently get birds--mostly robins--in the low evergreen right outside our garage window. But there was a difference between crawling through the tree and being able to lift the basket and nest down to camera-level!
Now that they look more like little birds and less like fuzzy, bug-eyed things, I want to look at them constantly. Unfortunately, I don't think that Mum- and Dad-bird would like that. But the little guy hopping around on the balcony obliged me nicely with that one. Now I can see him whenever I want. And hold him too, under the excuse of having Bobby take pictures of him. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 03:16 am (UTC)*snickers*
Sooooooo kidding...
Wonderful piccies, Dawn. How fun!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 12:46 pm (UTC)(Also kidding!)
It has been fun! The first thing I this morning was check on the little guy on the balcony, and he was hopping around and chirping like crazy!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 06:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 12:48 pm (UTC)(Of course the hulking, loud one is Feanor!)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 07:23 am (UTC)Anyhow: cuteeeeeeeeeee!!! We have a full colony living in our gutter, so very early in the morning Kevin drinks his bottle accompanied by songbirds ;) Btw as I was reading, I wondered if the Cuckoo would wriggle the others out of the nest (which is usual), but it looks like it happened the other way around. :c) Thanks for sharing!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 12:53 pm (UTC)(Nor can the little family that moved in...even with mounds of bird poop.)
I love little birds! We used to get nests of them all the time when I was a kid, so I grew up having my mom lift me up to see the baby robins in the nest. I'm kind of hoping that our little finches like where they live now and might come back next year....
And you icon! *squees* It's precious!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 06:11 pm (UTC)Anyhow, my dad is a pidgeon keeper, so I am used to those lil'and ugly birdies. They become more cuter when they get feathers and hungry and... *grin*
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 07:37 am (UTC)The baby is very sweet - he seems to have got the hang of perching beautifully! It's so fantastic that you've been able to watch the whole thing. :)
Also - yay snapdragons!!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 12:56 pm (UTC)I was a bit surprised that little Feanor (the adopted one because he's big and pushy!) perches so well at eleven days. But then, I don't really know anything at all about birds; my interest was always the very feminine subject of entomology. ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 08:22 am (UTC)Over here, in the midst of the town, there are only
fat, ugly, stupidpigeonswho manage to get run over by busses because they won't fly away.(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 12:59 pm (UTC)I've never seen a nest of swallows! We don't get a whole lot of swallows around here, mostly just finches, robins, and chickadees. And a whole range of aggressive birds (blue jays, mockingbirds) that I am glad didn't discover the snapdragons before the finches did!
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 06:05 pm (UTC)My dad calls the "roof rats" and I think both terms fit really well. I mean, I really like animals, but pigeons are simply dirty and in that special case also stupid... ;)
I've never seen a nest of swallows!
Swallows' nests are little works of art, I think. They are a bit like little caves of sticks and dirt glued beneath overhanging roofs. Like that. Well, actually you cannot see the nest very well in that picture... but it was so cute... :-D
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-01 02:30 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 10:53 am (UTC)Oh, and the parents are Feanor and Nerdy Nerdanel.
If you haven't named them yet, I bet they have names now. :-P
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 01:01 pm (UTC)The adopted one--because he's big, pushy, and doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the family--will be Feanor. In the last picture of the nest, there's a particularly cute little guy curled up on the far right. He'll be Finarfin 'cause he's super cute. The other two will be Fingolfin and Lalwen.
The parents, of course: Finwe and Indis.
Thanks for the idea! :^P
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 01:48 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 02:09 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 02:15 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 11:22 am (UTC)#2: These pics and the accompanying story are fab! We have a mourning dove sitting on a nest in our cherry tree at the front of the house. She's been there for almost two weeks now, so I expect her eggs to hatch any time! It is exciting to watch the baby birds (and their parents, too!).
#3: I just had to ask: are you watering your plant?
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 01:05 pm (UTC)2. Can you see into the nest? Some people find doves to be pest birds, but I love them. They're so serene-looking, and I love how they go everywhere in pairs. They make cool noises too.
3. Hehe, yes. It actually works quite well because the flowers are planted around the edge of the pot with a bare spot in the middle. That's where the nest is. So I take down the basket and water around the nest and can still manage to get all of the flowers.
Actually, that's how I discovered that there was a nest in there: I went out one night to water the snapdragons and accidentally poured water over Indis, who must have just laid her eggs! Oops....
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 01:29 pm (UTC)I remember when I was a kid living in Illinois, a baby starling whose parents made a nest in one of our house's pipes fell down into our stove vents and ended up being raised by us, because we couldn't get it back to the nest. It was great fun how, after he flew off and we thought he was gone, he came back one day, saw Mom as she was chatting with the neighbor, and flew down to say hello, totally freaking out the neighbor. ;)
Birds are fun. ^_^
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 01:37 pm (UTC)That's such a cool story about the starling! I remember taking care of a robin once for about a day until we could get it back into the nest. It was quite a bit of work. I also remember my mom cutting up earthworms with scissors to feed it. Yech.
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 02:02 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 02:10 pm (UTC)(Do you remember mom cutting up the earthworms, though? Yech!)
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 02:11 pm (UTC)Vaguely...
(no subject)
Date: 2006-05-30 10:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-01 02:33 pm (UTC)Eggs in nest:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/dawnfelagund/BirdEggs.jpg
Babies--Day One:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/dawnfelagund/BabyBirds--1day.jpg
Babies--Day Six:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/dawnfelagund/BabyBirds--6days.jpg
Babies--Day 11:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/dawnfelagund/BabyBirds--11Days.jpg
Me holding Feanor (the bird...not the Elf, nor Feanor's bird >:^P):
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/dawnfelagund/BirdinHand.jpg
And Feanor perched on our lantern:
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a265/dawnfelagund/BirdonLantern.jpg
(no subject)
Date: 2006-06-03 01:39 am (UTC)