You don’t happen to own two lovebirds and keep them in a cage, do you?:eek:
They’ll be gone fast, Sofa, as soon as they feather out enough to flutter to the ground. But look out: if they like the spot (sounds like they do) they’ll be back all summer laying more eggs.
As for Daddy having flown the coop, that might not be so. It could be him sitting on the nest part of the time. (You can’t hardly tell them apart.
We had a pair that nested on a shelf in the potting shed last spring (we’d had a week or so of bad weather and so hadn’t been in there for a while).
They took turns sitting on the nest. I’d see one fly in the shed and the other one come out. I know they were switching because once I snuck close and watched the changing of the guard. The one bird flew in and perched on a tomato cage. They looked at each other for a second and then at the same time they flew up; one settling on the nest and the other flying out.
The babies hatched, the parents got them out in a few days, and fortunately decided it wasn’t such a great place to nest after all.
Birds are evil hell demons. As opposed to heaven demons. Anyhoo, I hate them all. Except they eat bugs, so they’re not 100% bad.
I’d be sure to shoo them off of my property, though. Maybe I’d eat the eggs too, just to be sure. They’re pigeons, for cryin’ out loud. They’re not exactly an endangered species!
Not necessarily. I get woken up all the time by fucking crows cawing at 5 o’clock in the morning.
I’ve had all the usual bird problems stated so far. Here’s one thing to look forward to: When the eggs hatch, a larger, nastier bird will come along and eat the chicks. Happens all the time. Ain’t Mother Nature a bitch? Kinda like a little episode of “Wild Kingdom” right outside yer window!
Nowadays, if I have a “problem nest”, I shit-can it ASAP. Sorry!
Why is it all lost dogs “need medicine”?
We’ve got a pair of dark-eyed Juncos (a finchy-type songbird) that have built a nest (and laid 4 eggs) in a hanging plant right outside our apartment’s front door. I thought it was cute until my wife told me I have to enter and leave through the side door to avoid scaring mommy bird away, thus leaving the eggs unincubated; said door exits directly onto a 10 foot-wide stretch of dog-doo infested grass (maintained by the apt complex) one must cross before getting to the walkway.
So for the future survival of four little birds (which will probably all be eaten by the devilspawn cats that live around here), I’ve got to twice daily navigate the fecal minefield. I swear, the minute I first get poop on my shoes (and I will - mark my words), I’ll take that nest and - - well, do nothing, 'cause I’m a pathetic softy when it comes to baby animals and crap like that. But I’ll think very bad thoughts, at the very least.
(Wow, upon preview, that’s a helluvalotta parentheses.)
Be even funnier if you had used nested parentheses!
Well, I guess it’s been pretty close to three weeks now since my friends laid their eggs, and the poor dove is still sitting there, totally bedraggled in the frigid rain.
I think it’s highly unlikely the eggs are going to hatch.
Man, do I ever feel like a jerk.
Nope, I was wrong! There is at least one baby bird in the nest. It’s just that the weather has been so cold, rainy, and shitty, that the mom bird is still sitting on the baby bird.
At least, I think that’s what’s going on. Is that normal?
Only seen one very, very quiet little baby bird so far, but at least that’s one more than I thought. Good luck to them.
Sofa King,
That’s quite nice about the baby.
I also think it’s quite nice of you to put up with them.
Seems like you’ve gone from mildly pissed off, to forced resignation to actually sorta, kinda maybe liking the doves.
Or am I wrong?
How odd. I was looking at this thread in hopes of answering a general question, and I discovered that the final postscript I wrote to this thread never posted.
So if you’ll forgive me, I’ll finish the story.
Both of the eggs hatched, and I’m not sure about this, but one of them might have been that original one which those birds somehow miraculously rolled back in to their makeshift nest. I say that because I never found a trace of the first one.
We mounted the air conditioner in the other window, and watched the little tykes grow. Aside from the occasional fluttering, the chicks made not a sound. Ever. And after a while, they didn’t mind our gawking, either.
One spring-ish morning that early summer I was just clawing myself awake when I heard the very first noise those birds ever made. The mother let out a single, short, beautiful little call. I glanced out the window to see if the damned birds were still there, (they were, taking up a lot of sill space by then) and tromped off to work, or wherever I was going.
I’m not sure, but I think I went on vacation that day. Whatever the case, next time I checked they were all gone.
I’m not overly sentimental, and I don’t normally project human thoughts on critters, but to this day, six months later, I still think of that mamma bird saying, “thank you… you asshole.”
And my heart soars like a hawk.
I like “nature and shit” too, but I have to confess that that line nearly had coffee coming out of my nose. Am I goin’ to Hell too?
Nice postscript - thank you for adding it. 