Birdies, Birdies Everywhere

We've had to fight the birds for use of our back porch this spring. We have many little clefts and wreaths that are apparently quite appealing to the local avian creatures in our backyard. We took our time putting the net curtains up, and the birds have taken advantage of our sloth. Everyday, we end up shooing away another mama robin or, worse, pigeon. They leave little gifts for us on our porch here and there as they work on their nests, and they make me mad at them with their ungracious messes. Finally tonight, we have the curtains up, so we hope, when we go out in the morning, there will be no sudden flutter and chirp of warning to contend with on our porch.

We left the robin's nest on the top of the floodlight to the side of our house. That mama comes back every year, and the only time she gets annoying is when her babies are ready to fly. She'll dive bomb us when we go to the water hose then. Or, if she catches us peeking at her out of the high octagon window that looks right into her nest (we use a step-stool to spy on the family), she'll fluff her feathers at us and fly menacingly at the window as she gives us a shrill lecture.

I love catching the moment when the baby robins learn to fly. Their comic antics and wobbly edge-of-the-nest practicing make me smile. Though Mama robin is even more aggressive when the babies are starting to wing their way into the big world, the funny thing is, when they all fly off, she turns back into a normal bird and just ignores us.

The nest looks so empty then and it becomes just another messy twig thing stuck on the top of our floodlight. Though Mama Robin is sometimes annoying in her screeching protectiveness, I always miss the birdies when they all move out. I only have to wait for next spring, though, and the nest will once again be full.