Homewrecker

Friday, 5:28 pm

Apr

11

2008

Well, I am sad to say that I’ve wrought havoc on a pair of purple finches. Unknown to me, they’d built a nest in a wreath hanging by the front door. I took it down a little while ago to hang something a little more springlike. I brought the wreath inside and a couple of somethings fell out of it. Turned out to be itty bitty eggs. Two smashed on the floor and the third one survived intact. I examined the wreath and found a tiny nest built on the backside. Oh, that made me feel so sad. I put the one egg back in the nest and took the wreath back outside to hang on the wall. The birds were quite anxious, twittering in a tree only several feet from the house.

I’ve been watching since the terrible event and no one is sitting on the nest yet. They’ve both been back to look at the nest, but they haven’t stayed...although hanging around in the general vicinity. I’m afraid they’ll abandon the nest now. It’s been over an hour since either of them have warmed the egg.

Very clean robins

Friday, 3:54 pm

Apr

11

2008

I must have the cleanest robins in the neighborhood. Throughout this afternoon, there have been seven robins bathing in my birdbath. I’ve had to refill it once today because they’d splashed most of the water out of it. What a riot. They dunk their heads and scrunch down until they are half under water, then they flap their wings sending water flying everywhere. They love their baths.

My birdbath is nothing special. I used a large plastic saucer that’s made to go under a large flower pot. I think this one is about 14” in diameter. It’s terra cotta colored and it’s not too deep. I perched it on the corner of the deck railing and left it out all winter so that the birds could have a drink—none of them tried bathing in the winter—and it was nice that I didn’t have to worry about the container freezing and cracking.

It seems a little chilly for a bath today, but the robins obviously aren’t bothered by it. They happily splash and fling water everywhere. What fun!