personal

I wrote a couple of weeks ago about our little friends building a nest by our front door.
Shortly thereafter those six eggs hatched. We’ve been watching them intently, and even found ourselves (mostly me) panicking this past weekend when it appeared that the Mom and Dad had left.
I was afraid that one of the neighborhood kids had been taking gander (pun entirely intended) and had inadvertently touched the nest area. I remember as a kid being told that if you did this, the parents would never return.
I don’t know if that’s true – in fact I’m beginning to question it right now as I think about it – but it has always seemed logical.

Anyway, a couple of days ago Mom and Dad came back to their brood, and have been working round the clock to keep them fed.
They are growing exponentially and are quickly outgrowing their quarters.
There is only room for five birds in there – tops. There are six, which makes me think some poor bird is sitting on the bottom of his or her five siblings, developing some sort of complex that will haunt him or her later in life.

According to the Wikipedia article these guys will only be spending a few more days in this nest, and may stick around for awhile.
Awesome – I have weeks worth of bird poop to clean up as it is. I can’t wait to peel that wreath away from the vinyl siding and throw it away (after the inhabiting Finch family moves out of course).

Here is a horrible pic from my cell phone – you can see one of their huge beaks. These things are like twice the size of their heads. I am amazed they have the strength in their tiny little heads to control and move such a large mouth.

I can’t wait until they start dive-bombing us.