What have we here?

Let's put a little more light on the subject:

Aha! It's a branch with a nest in it! And the nest contained an egg!

On Tuesday, I was pruning the "miniature" (I didn't think miniatures were supposed to get so huge!) lilac bush in front of our house. I noticed this little nest which appeared to have been abandoned. At least I wasn't getting scolded by any birds as I was pruning, so I had no qualms about lopping off that branch. Courtney was thrilled with the nest, and she saved it to show her cousins who were coming that afternoon with Grandma H to pick her up.

Another reason I didn't feel bad about taking down the nest was that I was quite sure the nest belonged to a chipping sparrow, as they seem to build nests in that bush every year... but the egg looked like that of a cowbird. Remember this one from last year? Yep, it apparently happened again.

So Courtney and her cousins (you'll be seeing them here next week!) took the nest and egg (minus the branch) to Grandma H's. They told me the next day that somehow (I'm not quite sure on the details) the egg got broken open... and there was a baby bird inside! I was surprised at that. But I still didn't feel too bad, 'cause I'm still sure it was a cowbird. And I still think the nest had been abandoned.

Poor little chipping sparrows. They work so hard, and that's what they get for their labors.

P.S. Did you notice my hibiscus plant(s) in the background of the first photo? I had cut it back and repotted it this spring, and it's just now beginning to bloom again. I may get some pics of the flowers as more come on. Or maybe you've seen enough hibiscus flowers on this blog. ;)

Dilemma!

Yesterday morning I was pruning our miniature lilac bush next to the house (miniature, ha! it's gotten pretty huge over the years!) while Courtney was squirting water at me (a story for another time). I soon realized I was being scolded mightily by a tiny chirping bird off in a nearby tree.

I figured I must be very close to a nest of some kind, and it didn't take me long to find it in the "mini" bush. Here it is below:

Interesting, huh? Those eggs don't match! Hmmm.....

The tiny blue eggs belong to a chipping sparrow. Remember the nest from a couple years ago?

Soooo.... what about that extra egg? A little online searching last night told me that it belongs to a cowbird. They don't make nests of their own, but instead they lay their eggs in other unsuspecting birds' nests. Pretty lazy, if you ask me. So this poor other bird incubates and hatches out the baby cowbird(s). The cowbird usually chooses the nest of a smaller bird, and since the cowbird egg often hatches more quickly, that little baby cowbird is bigger and gets most if not all of the food the parents bring, and the other babies often don't make it. NOT FAIR, huh?!

I've read that it's illegal to destroy the cowbird egg! And even if I did, the cowbird might just replace it with another egg. Some people do destroy them. Some shake them hard so they won't hatch, then place them back in the nest just to prevent the cowbird from laying another in there. Some let nature take its course.

I hate what's going on! What do I do? What would YOU do?

Update: Thursday, July 15th - I checked the nest this morning, and one of the sparrow eggs was missing. I forgot to mention that another thing the cowbirds will do to ensure that their eggs get hatched is to knock the other eggs out of the nest. Does THAT change your opinion as to how this little dilemma should be handled?

They grow up so fast!

Remember our little chipping sparrow baby that hatched on July 24th?

Here it is again with its sibling on July 28th......

July 30th......

And this morning......

Better say good-bye to them now, as they'll soon be off on their own!

Birth Announcement!

Talk about getting SIDETRACKED today! I went outside with a basket of hubby's dirty work clothes to empty pockets, etc., before washing them. As I was starting, I remembered the flowers on the south side of the house needed watering, so I decided to go hose them down and then let it soak in while I did the work clothes thing, so I could then go back and hose them some more. [On a side(tracked) note, if you've never used a water breaker (a.k.a. diffuser) for watering, you oughta get one. You can water really FAST that way without damaging the plants.] I dragged the hose over there, and then I noticed that I was already being scolded by the chipping sparrows and I hadn't even gotten close to their nest. Although I'd already checked it earlier this morning (and found 2 eggs... don't know what happened to the third... it was there yesterday), I decided to peek again. Lo and behold, one of the eggs had hatched! And O_M_G!!! I have never seen such a tiny bird in my life!!! Of course, sidetracked again, I had to run for the camera while the mom was off the nest. Here's what I saw. I think this photo is pretty close to actual size, if not a bit bigger. That baby couldn't have been an inch long, stretched out!! AMAZING!!!

Added note: This evening I checked the nest again to see if the other egg had hatched yet. It hadn't, but man, you shoulda seen that teensy eighth-inch beak open for food! So cute! And incredible!

Maybe I wasn't really getting scolded. Maybe they were just excitedly announcing their new arrival. ;-)

Well, since I had the camera out there, I figured I might as well head out to the wildflower bed and get some more pics. And I snapped a couple in the vegetable garden. And on the way back took some better ones of the moss roses, since the sky was clouded over but it was bright enough for them to be open. Somewhere along the line there, I did get the flowers by the house watered and the dirty clothes fit for the washer, washed and hung on the line to hopefully dry in this 70+% HUMIDITY.

And the other photos I took will be for a later post. ;-)

Another note: This post has been updated to correct identification of the nest and eggs. My apologies for any confusion!

More blue eggs

A few days ago, I checked the wren nest just to see if the egg was still in it, even though I knew it had been abandoned. The egg was gone, and it looked like something had partially dismantled the nest. Then I noticed I was being scolded, so I thought maybe the wrens had rebuilt their nest somewhere in the same bush. Of course, snoopy me had to start searching for it.

It didn't take me long to discover this new nest not far from the other one. It was a very neat little nest, similar to the original one (and I have to give the birds credit for practicality in using nest materials so readily available). However, looking into it, I was quite surprised to see that though these eggs were about the size of wren eggs, they were a different color!

Then I had to do some internet searching to figure out what kind of eggs they were. It turns out that they are chipping sparrow eggs. I have no idea when they will hatch but I'll keep peeking, and I will post a "birth announcement" and future photos.

Note: This post has been updated to correct identification of the nest and eggs. My apologies for any confusion!!