Nature Saga
For living nowhere near the country, my backyard has been a constant nature channel special. Each summer I get woken up at 3:00 am by crazy birds that don't know it's still dark. Gophers and rabbits dig up the dirt that was once the lawn. And the top corner of the A frame has been home to two mud nests for birds each spring.
The baby bird mortality rate is high. More eggs fall out of those nests than I ever see hatched. This year I walked out to find out what was going on with all the screeching and I saw several of the dreaded black birds scouting out the remains of the most recent casualty. Given that I don't like having these giant birds around I hosed them off and told the bird parents how sad I was for them.
Then, a few days ago one of the mud nests disintegrated and collapsed to the ground. Luckily no babies were inside but those birds sure were upset. I'm not sure if everyone has moved into one nest or if one family was victorious over the other but there's always something on the backyard nature channel around here.
The baby bird mortality rate is high. More eggs fall out of those nests than I ever see hatched. This year I walked out to find out what was going on with all the screeching and I saw several of the dreaded black birds scouting out the remains of the most recent casualty. Given that I don't like having these giant birds around I hosed them off and told the bird parents how sad I was for them.
Then, a few days ago one of the mud nests disintegrated and collapsed to the ground. Luckily no babies were inside but those birds sure were upset. I'm not sure if everyone has moved into one nest or if one family was victorious over the other but there's always something on the backyard nature channel around here.
It was a sad baby bird/nest day at my house on Sunday. We found a nest above my porch light early in the afternoon. Later in the day the nest was down and the eggs broken (they didn't seem to be fertilized so that wasn't too sad). Then when I was taking the trash out I found a dead fledgling in my drive way.
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