# cheep cheep! (Baby birds in my hanging basket) **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 29, 2007, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853 "2007-05-29T02:28:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/1 "2007-05-29T02:28:29Z")
Every so often today we heard a _racket_ of chirping through the window and finally I located the source - check out [these](http://www.bulblet.com/archives/2007/cheep-cheep-2/) little guys! Good thing for them I’ve been forgetting to water lately! They could have been there for quite some time, since I haven’t been home during the day lately when they’re awake - they make an awful lot of chirpy noise for just two little guys, though! (Hey, there may be other nests I don’t even know about!) Any idea what kind they are? Anybody else have a little hungry funny-looking bundle of joy somewhere on the property this year? ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/2 "2007-05-29T02:36:31Z")
Yep. The barn swallows are back. We have three mud-and-stick nests under our patio roof(thank goodness it’s on the ‘dog porch’ end). The best part is when the babies are learning to fly. So cute !! ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/3 "2007-05-29T02:38:24Z")
Sparrows, yeah they’re really loudly chirpy for little things. > [@](#): > > Anybody else have a little hungry funny-looking bundle of joy somewhere on the property this year? Well, I have [this](http://pics.livejournal.com/wilee_coyote/pic/0000k6z7/g6) in my bathroom, I am attempting to raise it. I have a GQ thread about it, Colibri thinks it may be a green heron. It must be hungry because it keeps trying to eat its wing. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/4 "2007-05-29T02:50:21Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] Sparrows, yeah they’re really loudly chirpy for little things. Well, I have [this](http://pics.livejournal.com/wilee_coyote/pic/0000k6z7/g6) in my bathroom, I am attempting to raise it. I have a GQ thread about it, Colibri thinks it may be a green heron. It must be hungry because it keeps trying to eat its wing. [/QUOTE] Oh my god, that’s the mostly ugly/cute baby animal I’ve ever seen! ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/5 "2007-05-29T02:57:57Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Oh my god, that’s the mostly ugly/cute baby animal I’ve ever seen! [/QUOTE] That’s funny because I said to someone at work today that it was so cute it was ugly, then realized I meant that the other way around. It’s even uglier/cuter in person when it’s trying to eat and it opens it mouth really wide and grabs at anything that moves, including itself. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/6 "2007-05-29T03:02:13Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] Sparrows, yeah they’re really loudly chirpy for little things. Well, I have [this](http://pics.livejournal.com/wilee_coyote/pic/0000k6z7/g6) in my bathroom, I am attempting to raise it. I have a GQ thread about it, Colibri thinks it may be a green heron. It must be hungry because it keeps trying to eat its wing. [/QUOTE] Sparrows, really? I don’t even know sparrows - are they feeder birds? I’ve never seen them at the feeder - now house finches, those I got. Goldfinches in season, chickadees, crested titmeeses, Carolina wrens, mourning doves, yellow bellied sapsuckers, big creepy robins, cardinals, even used to have what I think was a red-shouldered hawk. But AFIAK I’ve never so much as set eyes on a sparrow. ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/7 "2007-05-29T03:18:26Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Sparrows, really? I don’t even know sparrows - are they feeder birds? I’ve never seen them at the feeder - now house finches, those I got. Goldfinches in season, chickadees, crested titmeeses, Carolina wrens, mourning doves, yellow bellied sapsuckers, big creepy robins, cardinals, even used to have what I think was a red-shouldered hawk. But AFIAK I’ve never so much as set eyes on a sparrow. [/QUOTE] Well, they looked to me like what we call a typical house sparrow around here but I couldn’t even identify my baby bird so I could be wrong. titmeese? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/8 "2007-05-29T03:27:43Z")
I suppose they could be house finches, then, they look similar. I thought everybody had sparrows? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/9 "2007-05-29T03:33:48Z")
In a knot in my siding, which just happens to be on my bedroom wall, is a family of birds, with new hatchlings. Every morning at around 5:30, a racoon climbs up on my roof and snarls at them, which sends them into a screaming frenzy, which further excites the racoon who can’t reach them. I am not enjoying this. In a few weeks, I am sealing up the hole in the siding permanently. A racoon freaking out on cedar shingles is not the sound you want to wake to, especially on a holiday weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/10 "2007-05-29T04:45:58Z")
Last year my mother had a pair of Carolina wrens raise a family in a big potted geranium sitting on her deck railing. Zoe the Calico Cat nearly had a nervous breakdown, from sitting there in the sunroom…_watching_ them…six feet away. Unobtainable. Wrens were firmly discouraged from nesting there this year. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/11 "2007-05-29T14:00:14Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] Well, they looked to me like what we call a typical house sparrow around here but I couldn’t even identify my baby bird so I could be wrong. titmeese? [/QUOTE] I saw the mother flying away today and she looked unfamiliar to me. Looked up house sparrows and that could be what she was. Maybe everybody does have sparrows, but I don’t! (My boyfriend came in last night and I said “The internet thinks they might be sparrows.” “Don’t be dumb. There’s no such thing as sparrows.” I never could figure out if he was pulling my leg or not.) ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/12 "2007-05-29T14:02:29Z")
Titmeeses. Like, one titmouse, two titmice, three titmeeses. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/13 "2007-05-29T14:34:01Z")
Well, it wasn’t chirping, but I found a beautiful Indigo Bunting dead on the deck. Apparently he flew into the window and croaked his colorful little self. [http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.birdsofoklahoma.net/images/IndigoBunting431.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.birdsofoklahoma.net/Indigobunting.htm&h=610&w=388&sz=142&hl=en&start=7&um=1&tbnid=NtryDpJSXL4JOM:&tbnh=136&tbnw=87&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dindigo%2Bbunting%2Bphoto%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DGGLJ,GGLJ:2006-34,GGLJ:en%26sa%3DX](http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.birdsofoklahoma.net/images/IndigoBunting431.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.birdsofoklahoma.net/Indigobunting.htm&h=610&w=388&sz=142&hl=en&start=7&um=1&tbnid=NtryDpJSXL4JOM:&tbnh=136&tbnw=87&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dindigo%2Bbunting%2Bphoto%26svnum%3D10%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26rls%3DGGLJ,GGLJ:2006-34,GGLJ:en%26sa%3DX) Huge bummah. We tossed his little dead self into the bonfire. ---
**Author:** ![KRC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/45deac/32.png) [@KRC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KRC)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/14 "2007-05-29T14:54:10Z")
I found some curve-billed thrasher nests in the hills this spring. One had three downy babies in it in mid April. The babies had fledged about 10 days later and by now they’re long gone. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/15 "2007-05-29T14:54:12Z")
Zsofia, I can’t believe you don’t have sparrows in South Carolina! Maybe I’m so used to them, I think they’re everywhere I go, but I swear they’re down your way. They’re really the most common bird we see here. That and the yucky starlings. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/16 "2007-05-29T19:04:18Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] I saw the mother flying away today and she looked unfamiliar to me. Looked up house sparrows and that could be what she was. Maybe everybody does have sparrows, but I don’t! (My boyfriend came in last night and I said “The internet thinks they might be sparrows.” “Don’t be dumb. There’s no such thing as sparrows.” I never could figure out if he was pulling my leg or not.) [/QUOTE] If they are in a hanging basket, they are probably Carolina wrens. They love to nest in hanging baskets, pots, buckets, etc. After mating season is over, they like to roost in baskets and planters, too. Here’s a [baby wren](http://www.andrewclem.com/Photos/Birds/BabyCarolinaWren1.jpg) and here’s an [adult wren](http://grd-jerry.home.att.net/carolina_wren_250x311scott.jpg). I love them - they are beautiful, they sing quite loudly (way out of proportion to their size) and they aren’t terribly shy. They can be taught to eat out of your hand. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/17 "2007-05-29T19:05:30Z")
[QUOTE=Ellen Cherry] Zsofia, I can’t believe you don’t have sparrows in South Carolina! Maybe I’m so used to them, I think they’re everywhere I go, but I swear they’re down your way. They’re really the most common bird we see here. That and the yucky starlings. [/QUOTE] I mean, they probably _are_ here and I just don’t notice them, but they aren’t at my feeder. ---
**Author:** ![badbadrubberpiggy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/57b2e6/32.png) [@badbadrubberpiggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/badbadrubberpiggy)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/18 "2007-05-29T19:08:19Z")
[QUOTE=Wile E] Sparrows, yeah they’re really loudly chirpy for little things. Well, I have [this](http://pics.livejournal.com/wilee_coyote/pic/0000k6z7/g6) in my bathroom, I am attempting to raise it. I have a GQ thread about it, Colibri thinks it may be a green heron. It must be hungry because it keeps trying to eat its wing. [/QUOTE] Awww, it looks like a wee dinosaur! I hope s/he does well, I’d like to find out what it is, too. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/19 "2007-05-29T21:24:02Z")
It’s not my backyard or anything, but my father is taken with the [raptor cams](http://www.xcelenergy.com/docs/BirdCamNews.html) from Xcel Energy in CO. Squeee! ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2007, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853/20 "2007-05-30T16:29:13Z")
I have a mockingbird nest in the confederate jasmine around my mailbox. Fortunately, mama mockingbird figured out what a bad place that was for it before she laid any eggs in it. I think she started building it over a weekend–from Saturday afternoon to Monday afternoon, it probably seemed perfect, then the mailman came. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cheep-cheep-baby-birds-in-my-hanging-basket/405853.md?page=2)