Category Archives: birds

Brenna blogs:: finches

Ever since we put up our bird feeder, there has been more birds around the neighborhood (Team Sparrow who live in our big pine tree, some house finches, grackles, a few dark-eyed juncos, and one or two chickadees). I guess two house finches saw this as the perfect spot.   the wreath on our door Anyway, my next-door-neighbor-best-friend Holly was over to play and we decided to play out front. As we were walking out the door, Holly spotted something fly away when the door opened.  Then we saw it. The Nest.

Now, I mean today, mom went out to see if she could get a picture. This is what she found.


front door eggs We looked at a bird book and it says that one pair of house finches will breed up to 2-5 times a summer, and egg clutches are 2-6 eggs, and that our front-door eggs will hatch in 13-14 days.

Looks like we have new neighbors in the neighborhood!!

note to self

  • Get up before everyone else.  Read.  Pray.  Do yoga (or go swimming).
  • Take a shower, even if the baby has to come along.  (Naked babies are fun, after all.)
  • DO NOT YELL UP THE STAIRS.  It does not make you feel happy.  Walk upstairs to say whatever it is that needs saying.
  • Do not whine back to whiners.
  • LOOK AT THE CALENDAR.  Your planner is your friend.
  • Wait until after school to look at the computer.
  • Read aloud.  And snuggle.
  • Work on making something with a child.
  • Work on making something all by yourself.
  • Watch birds.
  • Breathe fresh air.  Go outside, even for a second.
  • Eat vegetables.
  • Remember that there are people that live outside this house.  Talk to one (or some) of them.
  • Give one hundred bazillion hugs and kisses.  (They are much more important than math.  Really.)
  • Smile.
  • Laugh.
  • Sleep.

I’m printing this out and putting it on my bathroom mirror.  I’m needing the reminder lately during these days of not-quite-spring.

Speaking of spring– the new issue of Rhythm of the Home is up!

sweetie bird

It’s full of creativity, fun, and loveliness– including the pattern for my sweetie birds.  Go check it out!

My sad, sad experience with the little birds I grew so attached to make me look forward all the more to this:

Isaiah 11:6-9

6 The awolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

8 And the sucking child shall play on the hole of athe asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the bcockatrice’ den.

9 They shall not ahurt nor bdestroy in all my holy cmountain: for the dearth shall be full of the eknowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.

 

I wish it were like that now!  Faith, faith…

the way of the wild

This is the last photo of the robins this past Saturday. It is amazing how they changed over the week.

the last photo :: one week old

All of my baby birds have fallen prey to raccoons or cats. Barry found one of the robins barely alive at the base of the tree–cold and barely holding on to life. The parents were hopping around the branches and so we hoped that if we put the baby back in the nest it would be fed and warm, but they didn’t go back. The night was rainy and cold.

A couple of days before we found our birdhouse that had been full of baby sparrows on the ground— something had reached in and pulled 3 bald little bodies out, mangled them a bit, but left them there. We reattached the house to the fence thinking there must be something left inside, and sure enough, the mama fluttered out. She came back with a beak full of grubs, hopping along the ground, searching for the little bodies. It was so sad. Eventually she did go back in the house, came and went, came and went. There must have been one left in there. A few mornings later, though, a paw had obviously been reaching in. Fluff, feathers, grass strewn all over. No more sparrows.

no more babies

It is amazing how precarious life is– how beautiful in its beginnings, how fragile and short it can be. Hopefully that mama robin will make a better choice in the location of her next nest– somewhere sheltered and high, where new eggs can be laid and set on and hatched.

On a totally unrelated note, I turned 30 yesterday.  It was pretty anti-climactic.  I spent the day recovering from a weekend full of house guests (my parents, 3 of my brothers, 2 sisters in law, 3 nephews and a niece came all the way from Idaho for Brenna’s eighth birthday and baptism) and a serious kidney infection.

I did get a new cookbook, a very cool new camera lens, and bought myself a springform pan because I think I am now mature enough to learn to make real cheesecake.  All of these things deserve their own posts, so I will report back as my crazy-getting-ready-to-move life permits.