Little Birdy

About a month ago, Audrey rushed up to me as I walked in the door from work to inform me that some birds had built a nest on the wreath hanging on our front door.  Now, this is something we fight with every year.  I have torn down countless nests. I stalk the front door each morning and night to tear down any twigs that the birds have started to bring so they'll know this is not the place to build their nest.  This year, however, there was so much going on that I didn't really pay attention.  So, that evening when Audrey showed me to the front door, there were 2 tiny blue eggs in the nest.  My heart sunk when I saw them, because I knew that we couldn't move the nest now.  So, Audrey proceeded to make notes to put on the doorknobs both inside and outside the door so that people would be reminded to not use that door.

Surprisingly, it hasn't been that big of a burden to not use the front door.  It has also been an amazing learning experience for all of us. Here are some of the highlights of what we've learned.

First, there were new eggs every day or two for almost a week.  The most eggs that were in the nest was 6.  About a week after the last one was laid, we found an eggshell on the front porch.  It's my guess that the momma bird knew it wasn't viable, so she dumped it out so there would be more room for the eggs that would hatch.

A couple of weeks after we noticed the first two eggs, they started to hatch. It took about a week from the time the first one hatched until the last one did.  I was really surprised by just how unrecognizable the little baby birds were when the first emerged.

Once those eggs started to hatch, the momma bird got much braver.  Early on, if we got anywhere near the door from the inside, she would fly away.  After that first egg hatched, we could walk to within 2 feet of the door before she'd fly away.

Once the little babies were hatched, we noticed that two birds would sometimes be at the nest.  I can only assume that means daddy was helping out.  It is pretty cool to watch the parents bring food to feed their babies though.

The grossest part of all of this is how the waste from the babies is just building up around the nest.  I am pretty sure I am going to have to throw out the wreath once the babies fly away.  It's been worth it to do it this one time, but next year I am going to have to be more diligent to prevent the birds from nesting on our door again!

The last observation that I'll share is that I've been really surprised as well by how quickly the babies have grown.  It hasn't even been 2 weeks since the eggs hatched, and they almost look fully grown.  It is really miraculous to see God's creation in action!