Little Bird

30 Replies

Early in the summer I realized that a little bird had built a nest right above our main door, the back door. There is a small enclosed porch, so the nest isn’t super visible until you step onto it. As I would enter or leave the house, the bird would fly away.

At one point, I realized there were chicks in the nest. Later, there was no doubt as they could be very noisy!

Occasionally I would sit outside for five minutes or so and read. This would be so I could have a short break from the computer. The mother bird would land a distance from me and complain. She might move onto a chair that was almost under the nest and continue to complain. But, as long as I was within site of the nest, she wouldn’t go into it. After a short while of complaining, I would usually walk away or go in – I know she had babies to take care of.

As an aside, I took some photos of her sitting on a small wire. She was complaining up a storm! I took a few photos. Until I looked at the photos, I didn’t know she had food!

What was real cool was that there was some vegetation between us. In the photo, that vegetation looks like strange abstract swirls. Kind of cool, right?

Anyway, one day I came back from a walk and there was a largish (still tiny) bird sitting in the nest. I held my phone up to get a photo. I moved the phone closer and closer because the bird was so small in it. Before I could take the photo, the bird flew away. And then the mother came over and started trying to entice the other one out of the nest. I went in, and 10 minutes later, the second chick left. Glad I was able to help the first one fledge ;)

Anyway, they’ve been gone a few weeks, so now when I sit out on the patio, I don’t have a little mother bird complaining that I’m out there. I kind of miss it ;)

30 thoughts on “Little Bird”

    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I did think it was a cool effect on the photo and it took me a few minutes to figure it out. But being on four photos, and in the same spot compared to the bird but different compared to the edges of the photo, it was an “aha” moment. Thanks!

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  6. Natasha

    What an endearing little post, dear Trent.

    I love the birdie, and all her escapades. Fabulous shots too especially the ones where the vegetation merged into abstracts.

    So the cats were okay with these new, temporary guests I suppose?

    We have these mynahs that keep building a nest on our parapet. But I rarely get to see the fledglings. I can’t wait to have a home full of nesting birds (naturally of course) :)

    Thank you for making me smile with this sweet post. I bet you miss them for sure.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      It was fun watching the little mother bird. All of the photos of her on that wire had that weird abstract character to it, so I just chose one. it took me a few minutes to figure out what caused it.
      The cats were actually fine. They sometimes watched out of the window, but not often. They are inside cats, and there are other windows that are more convenient to watch the outdoor life.

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  7. Miriam Hurdle

    I had house finches built a nest one year and had four babies. They reused the nest the following year. When I sneaked up to take photos, there were three eggs, but later, I saw four birds. Mourning doves also used the same nest for a couple of years. I know what you’re referring to, Trent.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      It is fun watching them, isn’t it? i think mourning doves would be a little more intrusive since they are a bit bigger, but would still be nice.

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      1. Miriam Hurdle

        The male and female mourning doves take turns to incubate the babies. I used a ladder to go up to take photos in between their shifts. As soon as the babies are ready to fly, they are the size of the adult doves.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      It is very cool, though not very unusual around here. That begin said, there have only been a couple of times in the past that I have been able to watch the nest daily.

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  10. Deborah

    Your “complaining up a storm” made me chuckle. Hummingbirds build nests outside the house here annually; when the eggs finally hatch and I try to respectfully snap a couple of shots of the babes, the mom always has lots of “words” for me. 😁

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      She was telling me exactly what she thought of stupid humans. lol.
      A few years ago I got to watch humming birds out of a second floor window. I became aware of the nest when I saw the mamma humming bird chasing everything that came within 10 feet of the nest, so I can imaging the mother telling you exactly what she thinks. It must be pretty cool seeing them every year :)

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      I love cats, but… yeah, they are very efficient hunters and can do a lot of damage in nature. It is fun watching the birds, but sorry you couldn’t see the doves fledge.

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    1. trentpmcd Post author

      Thanks – I had no idea what type of bird this was, but just looked up “phoebe” and sure enough, it is an eastern phoebe. A photo on wikipedea actually shows one with the same type of bee/hornet (yellow jacket?) that the one in my photo has. They are fun to watch.

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