Do you remember the frightened little mama bird who built her nest in the flowerpot on our front porch? (See the posts for 6/19, 6/20 and 6/23)
Who, in spite us humans who were constantly coming and going and scaring her out of her nest and into the neighboring trees,
and our cat, who was often waiting in ambush beneath her nest,
always found the courage to come back from the safety of the trees to her nest to care for her eggs?
I took the above photo about a month ago, and since then I've continued to pull a folding chair out onto the front porch about once a week and stand on the chair (which wasn't high enough to let me see into the nest), poise my camera over the nest and snap a photo, enabling me to see an image of what was going on in the nest . One time after I took a photo this is what I saw:
At first I thought that one of the eggs had hatched and the baby died. I thought maybe it was because we'd scared the mother too much for her to stay in the nest and care for her eggs as they needed to be cared for. But then Tom reminded me that there were only two eggs in the nest, not three. He told me that mother birds sometimes bring little bits of things into the nest. Maybe to help keep the eggs warm. Or maybe mother birds like to fix up their new baby's room just like we human mothers do.
Then around ten days ago my camera captured this:
Then around ten days ago my camera captured this:
It was a little moment of joy. Our mama bird's eggs had hatched and her babies were alive and thriving in their little flowerpot nest.
But now we had to worry about our cat and two other cats whom our cat had obviously befriended, as they were often sitting on our front porch near our cat. I think perhaps our cat had invited them over with the promise of a nice birdie dinner.
The cats must have known that around two weeks after they've hatched, if the baby birds won't leave on their own the mama bird will nudge them out of the nest. Sometimes the young birds can't spread their wings and fly on the first try and they fall to the ground.
And so we worried about this happening probably as much as our cat hoped it would. But what could we do? Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly, but if a bird can't fly then a cat's gotta do what a cat's gotta do. We decided to let nature take its course. But we kept an eye on the cat and on the area under the flowerpot for signs of a little fallen bird. Just as we'd been pulling for their mother, we wanted those baby birds to make it.
Four days ago I stood on the chair again with my camera over the flowerpot and snapped this:
But now we had to worry about our cat and two other cats whom our cat had obviously befriended, as they were often sitting on our front porch near our cat. I think perhaps our cat had invited them over with the promise of a nice birdie dinner.
The cats must have known that around two weeks after they've hatched, if the baby birds won't leave on their own the mama bird will nudge them out of the nest. Sometimes the young birds can't spread their wings and fly on the first try and they fall to the ground.
And so we worried about this happening probably as much as our cat hoped it would. But what could we do? Fish gotta swim and birds gotta fly, but if a bird can't fly then a cat's gotta do what a cat's gotta do. We decided to let nature take its course. But we kept an eye on the cat and on the area under the flowerpot for signs of a little fallen bird. Just as we'd been pulling for their mother, we wanted those baby birds to make it.
Four days ago I stood on the chair again with my camera over the flowerpot and snapped this:
The babies and their brave little mother had made it.* I hope they find a kind world out there.
*The beautiful mosaic around the edge of the nest is birdie doo. I'd never thought to wonder about where birds go potty while they're in their nest, did you? But now we all know! 8)
*The beautiful mosaic around the edge of the nest is birdie doo. I'd never thought to wonder about where birds go potty while they're in their nest, did you? But now we all know! 8)
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