For the Birds

On May 22^nd, 2014 as I was backing into the garage, I noticed a bird zipping away from the house. I wondered if it had become trapped in the garage and escaped when I opened the door.

It was not as simple as that. I don’t know how I missed it, but “they” had built a nest between the garage doors. It nestled snuggly between the outside light and the garage wall. We’ve lived in this house for fourteen years and this is the first time any birds have made a permanent roost on the light.

I wasn’t going to let it stay. I figured bird crap would be dribbling down the side of the garage as the summer progressed. Yuck! I was going to rip it down. However, I was urged to make certain there weren’t any babies on board before I razed the pile of twigs and straw.

5/23

Yup, you probably guessed; there were three eggs resting in the nest. I’ve been called many things, heartless bastard being the most popular, but I couldn’t bring myself to pull the nest apart. The next day I checked it and there was now a fourth egg. It was speckled and that sealed it; the nest was staying put until the birds flew the coop, so to speak.

I decided to maintain a pictorial journal to track the birds’ progress. Every night around 5 PM I snapped a picture of the nest.

The first thing I noted was that the speckled egg was in a different location each day. I thought that was interesting.

For the next eighteen days I tracked the progress of my birds, as my family had come to call them.

On 6/1, the speckled egg was the first to hatch. On 6/5, a second bird broke free from its shell. Over the next few days the babies went from pink blobs to creatures that became recognizable as avian.

6/1

6/5

Alas, we got no further. On 6/10, they were chirping away and on 6/11, they weren’t; they’d passed. I have no idea what happened. It was kind of sad.

I disposed of the nest and I can guarantee that next year I will be vigilant and make certain no nest is built in that location.

But, what do you think; if the birds try again next year should I let the nest stay or not?