Tuesday, June 2, 2009
I'm not kidding you when I say that every time I buy a hanging plant for my porch, this happens.
a nest with 3 eggs nestled in my dying fern plant
Each season I buy a new hanging plant...envisioning how it will spruce up my porch ambiance. And each season - in a matter of days, I tell you - my new plant falls prey to a winged developer looking to move on up to the east side from the birdie projects. Of course I can't bring myself to water my new plant for fear that I will disturb the delicate nest environs (nevermind the fact that the little bird family poops all over the nest and somehow THAT doesn't disturb anything...nevertheless).
I can say that it is fun to watch the birdie cycle of life...the egg sitting, the hatching, the chirping, the feeding, the flying lessons and the flying of the coop. Don't think for a second that I don't pull the plant down and take a little look-see....how do you think I got that picture?? Mom gets a little spun out when I do it, but every year she manages to get over it. The whole experience does make me feel like the money I spent on my plant did not go to waste.
Sigh. So each season after the little birdies learn to fly and take off into the great blue yonder, I throw away my dead plant.
Oh the sacrifices I make for the little birdies.
a nest with 3 eggs nestled in my dying fern plantEach season I buy a new hanging plant...envisioning how it will spruce up my porch ambiance. And each season - in a matter of days, I tell you - my new plant falls prey to a winged developer looking to move on up to the east side from the birdie projects. Of course I can't bring myself to water my new plant for fear that I will disturb the delicate nest environs (nevermind the fact that the little bird family poops all over the nest and somehow THAT doesn't disturb anything...nevertheless).
I can say that it is fun to watch the birdie cycle of life...the egg sitting, the hatching, the chirping, the feeding, the flying lessons and the flying of the coop. Don't think for a second that I don't pull the plant down and take a little look-see....how do you think I got that picture?? Mom gets a little spun out when I do it, but every year she manages to get over it. The whole experience does make me feel like the money I spent on my plant did not go to waste.
Sigh. So each season after the little birdies learn to fly and take off into the great blue yonder, I throw away my dead plant.
Oh the sacrifices I make for the little birdies.
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2 comments:
umm...keep the dead plant hanging for the next tenants? Or buy the plant from Home Depot, save the receipt. They give you a refund if the plant dies with one year... Armstrong garden centers will warranty all their plants for a lifetime if you save the receipt too...
Hi! I work at the Fitness Center where Anthony exercises, and in a rare, but more common-now-bragging uncle, he shared Abigails Sunday Conversation, and because it was a slow Friday evening, I browsed, and saw this blog re: the bird nest... did you recognize the brown spotted egg is different than the other two eggs? Here is why... read on!
Bonnie from jamestown
Nesting
Brown-headed Cowbirds have unusual breeding behavior: they never build nests or raise their own young. Males typically arrive on the breeding grounds before the females. Pairs are generally monogamous. Females lay eggs in other birds' nests and leave the rearing to other species. They find nests to parasitize by looking for birds building nests, either by walking along the ground, perching quietly in shrubs or trees, or making noisy flights back and forth, possibly to flush potential hosts. The female generally chooses an open cup-nest to parasitize, and usually lays one egg per nest. She waits to lay the egg until the host bird has at least one egg in its nest, and often removes one egg from the nest before laying her own. She continues the process over a period of about a month and can lay up to 40 eggs a season. Incubation time is short, 10 to 12 days, which allows the young cowbird to get a head start in the nest. Young cowbirds grow rapidly, giving them a competitive advantage over the other young in the nest. Young cowbirds usually leave the nest after 8 to 13 days, but are not fully independent from the hosts until they are about 25 to 39 days old. Then they typically form small flocks with other juveniles. Over 220 species have been observed with Brown-headed Cowbird eggs in their nests, and at least 144 species have raised Brown-headed Cowbird young to the fledgling stage, often at the expense of their own young.