Charlie noticed the other day that the birds, who took up lodging in our back porch, had babies.
They must have hatched over last weekend. He was in the dining room watching them and came to tell me that one had fallen out of the nest, and what did I think about putting it back in the nest. So I told him go google it. haha! My answer for anything I can't figure out on my own. He found out that the old wives tale that picking them up will make the parents abandon the nest is just that, a tale. Birds actually have a poor sense of smell, according to that site. So by the time he had looked that up and went back to the backyard to look for it, he couldn't find it. So he carefully looked around and found it not far from where he last saw it nestled in the weeds next to the sidewalk being very silent and still. Survival skills kicking in even at such a young age of 6-10 days old.
We called the kids out at this point...didn't want to say anything before, for the safety of the bird. And they were all so excited to see this little bird in the grass.
So Charlie picked it up with gloved hands and it promptly pooped on the gloves. LOL!
On a side note...baby birds sure are ugly haha!
So today I was really hoping to get good pics of the babies in the nest. They are big enough now that you can see them over the edge. And when the daddy birds comes in to feed them you can see them really good! Reaching up to be fed, their beaks open and heads bobbing, the kids love to see it! And we all know when they are being fed because they chirp up a storm!
Well as luck would have it, I was standing holding my camera ready to take pics and talking to Chaz...and I hear the chirping babies! So I quickly turned and fired off a few shots! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED! HAHA! There are four of them in there but it's hard to see all of them at once.
A little bit of info on the birds...
They are House Finches.
The male's are red and the females are brown.
These are the mom and dad.
The daddy bird always feeds them...he flies in and sits below the nest and waits a little while. He seems to be making sure all is clear and safe and sings to the babies to let them know he is coming.
Before the daddy comes to feed them they are barely visible in the nest. When they hear him come they stick their heads up...
And their beak open wide and they stick their heads up more.
I just noticed you can barely see the 4th baby in there...to the right you can see it's beak and eye.
Then it's a frenzy of heads bobbing, daddy feeding and chirping!
Their living quarters sure are gross. LOL!
Here is what I read about that...sorry if you don't care to know...lol.
But it explains the mess. :)
*When nestling House Finches defecate, the feces are contained in a membranous sac, as in most birds. The parents eat the fecal sacs of the nestlings for about the first five days. In most songbird species, when the parents stop eating the sacs, they carry the sacs away and dispose of them. But House Finch parents do not remove them, and the sacs accumulate around the rim of the nest.
While writing this, I was listening to "Better In Time" by Leona Lewis
