Sunday, May 08, 2005
Bird mom
Today is Mother's Day, so here is a Mom-related story.
I have a little gazebo in my backyard with a couple of planters hanging from it. The whole thing is covered by a vine which I trim back regularly since I like a lot of sunlight. In the garden live a bluebird family -- I say bluebird although only one of the two birds, which I presume to be the male, is blue while the other is mostly gray with a bit of white feathers mixed in.
The birds seem to fly around a lot and don't have a permanent nest in my yard, but they do like to perch on the Japanese maple trees and on the big rocks I added a few years ago, Japanese garden style. Two summers ago, the birds discovered the planters beneath the gazebo. At first I thought they were there to escape the heat, but it turned out they were incubating eggs. It took a lot longer than I thought, but the mom was especially diligent and stayed there day and night for several weeks even after the chicks were born. Dad flew back and forth between trees and from trees to rocks, looking busy but not really doing much. I mostly watched from a distance since they were skittish during that time and would let out a loud squawk whenever anyone went near the nest.
The birds were back this year, but a lot earlier than I expected. They started in early April, which I thought was quite early because of the cold weather. But one morning I was out in the garden and looked up, and there was the mom, doe eyes watching me intently and warning me to stay back. Last week I found that the chicks had arrived because of the racket they were making. The mom was busy feeding her kids who had beaks wide open like bottomless pits, food going in one way and a constant and loud werr-werr-werr noise coming out the other.
It was raining like crazy last night, so I went out this morning to check on the birds, but the whole family had left. The mom was no longer there with her butt sticking out from under the plant, and the baby chicks were gone too. Good luck mom, and farewell little bluebirdies. Be good.
- posted by Woofwoof @ 7:08 AM
