Sigh. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I’m just now getting around to actually writing about it. As you know, Day 2 of my Nature Challenge [here], I posted pictures of a little bird who was nesting in an alcove on our back porch. I must admit, it was such fun watching the parents care for the babies (I assume as much since I can’t tell one from the other) and watching the babies grow.
Shortly after the babies hatched, we had an onslaught of carpenter bees. These are all new experiences for us. We knew (had been told) that the carpenter bees would drill/bore holes into the home and lay eggs. Well, we couldn’t allow that to happen in our new home so the exterminators were called. We told the guy that he would just have to work around the nest. He explained to us that there was no way he could do that and it would kill the baby birds. What a quandary. Do we try to save the babies and risk mama bird never returning or do we just condemn them to a toxic death? And so, against mama bird’s wishes, Tom gently brought the nest into our home. This was April 29. I just could not resist:
Sorry about the camera shakes. I was trying to get a bit closer with my iPhone5. Their little squeeks were barely audible. The exterminator told us not to let any of our animals out for at least an hour. So, after a couple hours of waiting, Tom replaced the nest in the exact same spot. We just held our breath that all was well and mama would return. And she did. Without a zoom lens, I was never able to catch her feeding the babies. Every time I tried to sneak outside, she would fly a short distance away. So I stopped trying. I didn’t want to upset her. Then on May 8, after she left from feeding them, I took the step-stool and my iPhone and did my best to get a photo without getting too close.
A few days later on May 11, I took this one shortly after their feeding.
The next time I took any pictures was on May 16. The babies are all grown up here and exercising their wings. It won’t be long now.
Well, it wasn’t very long, indeed. Not too long after I took the previous picture, one by one they spread their wings and we ended up as empty nesters. And this is how it has remained. Now it’s time for us to clean up the mess left behind by the little ones. Gosh, just like kids….. 😉