Baby Birds

Right outside our front door is a little ledge that the birds have decided is the perfect spot for a nest. One appears there every spring since we moved into the house four years ago. I don't know why the experience has been extra fascinating this year. First we find the little pile of twigs and what-not. Honestly, I don't remember if we saw the Mommy bird much or not before the babies came. It's the babies that have been so engaging. One day we heard them peeping up there (the ledge is pretty high) but they were too small to be seen. We would see the Mommy come and feed them, but you couldn't see it too well as those birdies were just tiny, and like I said, it's up there, the little bird home.

If I am loving this all, you can only imagine how thrilled the little children I care for (and my own two) are. When we hear the peeping we all run over to the front door. I started holding the kids on top of my head (they are actually sitting on my head as I hold them, for maximum height) so they could catch a glimpse. They can really see well when I do that. They love it, and want to be "Closer, closer.......I can see their EYES!" they exclaim. I myself, could never get a good view, for some reason, even standing on a chair. (Which I did when the kids were not around, so as not to give them big ideas!)

Well the birdies are growing up! They are bigger now, and can plainly be seen when the mama comes to feed them. You hear the loud and fast "Peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep, peep..." that is four or five birds chirping "Me first, me first, me, me, me, me, ME!" all at the same time. The mama pops her beak into all the birdies' little baby beaks in turn, poke, poke, poke, poke, poke." Usually the feeding is disturbed by one of us running over to observe the action. We startle the birdies and they fly away. Not the baby ones, they clearly can not fly yet. But the two who feed them, who appear to be Mom and Dad. One is grey (I think this is Dad, as he seems to have the less important position) and she whom I see as Mommy, who is grayish with a red chest. Pretty. I figured out today, if when you hear the peeping (they are being fed so much more frequently in the last few days, it seems) you stand quietly, without moving too much, right beside the time-out chair, you can watch the feeding without being noticed.

The coolest part, though, is watching the little ones get ready to fly. Just in the past few days I can see them flapping their wings, getting ready to make their exit. It's exciting. I hope I get to see one of them fly out. So cool.

I'm not normally so interested in animals. I've never been an animal lover, really, not at all. Maybe I've just never had the opportunity to bond with one. Outside of Vengi the cat. Vengi and I never saw eye to eye. We got a dog a year ago, maybe I'm finally opening up to the wonders of the animal kingdom!

CIAO! Tracy