We Have Finches on Our Balcony
About a month ago, I noticed that a pair of house finches were showing some interest in our hanging basket of snapdragons. I noticed a lot of fluttering in and out and knew what that meant.
So I pulled the basket down to toss out the bird's nest before it got too far underway or (worse) had eggs in it...and I was too late. There was the most precious, tiny little nest with five little eggs in it. Of course, I got all excited and squeeful and started checking it regularly and documenting my finds with pictures.
The baby birds are eleven days old today. Here are the pictures that I have of them so far.
The nest had five eggs in it: four were tiny and bluish; the fifth was larger and white with brownish spots. Clearly, it did not belong to the finches; I figured (and others have confirmed my suspicions) that there are local species that are too lazy to raise their own babies and so lay eggs in other birds' nests to have the other birds care for them.
My mom warned me of the possibility that the larger, foreign bird might push the little finch babies out of the nest. But because the nest is in the middle of a hanging basket, they'd only fall into the basket and not to the ground, so I was okay with that. And I prefer to think of the "foreign" bird as adopted instead.
Here is the nest before the eggs hatched. The adopted egg is noticeably different than the others.
On 18 May, when I pulled the basket down to check the eggs, I found quite a surprise! Three of the eggs had hatched--including the adopted egg--and we had baby birds! They're so ugly when they're first hatched though, all bald little bodies and hungry mouths. Here are the babies at Day One:
Eventually, four of the eggs hatched. I don't know what happened with the fifth; it wasn't pushed from the nest because it's nowhere to be found in the hanging basket or on the balcony. We ended up with three tiny baby finches and their larger, adopted sibling. Here they are at Day Six, slightly less ugly and starting to look like birds. The adopted bird has grown quite noticeably larger than his brothers and sisters. (He's also the one looking at the camera. He was always the first to respond when I would move the nest, opening his mouth to be fed. I was a bit concerned at first that he might take the others' food, but they all seem to be growing quite well.)
When I checked the birds the other day, the nest was getting crowded. They've all grown, especially the adopted bird, who looks like he's going to be quite large. Lo and behold, today I noticed something odd about the behavior of the mother and father birds, noticeably that they would fly at the balcony doors until I thought that they were going to crash, then flutter down to the balcony floor.
I'm a country girl at heart, and I knew what that meant. Sure enough, when I looked out the door, there's a little bird hopping around the balcony.
Apparently, the adopted bird either decided that he was ready to leave the nest or got overcrowded. (I figure the former because, otherwise, he could have simply settled in the flower basket. Also, he flutters strongly enough to break his fall when jumping from the table, I discovered when I tried to put him back in the nest.)
So here are the three remaining birds--the finches--now less crowded in the nest, today on Day Eleven:
And their adopted brother, being held by a strange girl in a zebra-print shirt and foodservice gloves me:
After he wriggled out of my hands, we discovered that he has learned how to perch...right on one of our lanterns!
He's taken to chirping almost constantly, and the parents now occupy themselves with feeding him on the balcony floor and feeding the other three in the planter. Actually, it really works quite well: The nest is no longer crowded and he's not in danger of being attacked by any predators on the ground. The worst part about it is that Bobby and I like to eat meals on our balcony, but now we'll have to wait until he flies off. He hops around constantly, and I'd be afraid of stepping on him.
So I pulled the basket down to toss out the bird's nest before it got too far underway or (worse) had eggs in it...and I was too late. There was the most precious, tiny little nest with five little eggs in it. Of course, I got all excited and squeeful and started checking it regularly and documenting my finds with pictures.
The baby birds are eleven days old today. Here are the pictures that I have of them so far.
The nest had five eggs in it: four were tiny and bluish; the fifth was larger and white with brownish spots. Clearly, it did not belong to the finches; I figured (and others have confirmed my suspicions) that there are local species that are too lazy to raise their own babies and so lay eggs in other birds' nests to have the other birds care for them.
My mom warned me of the possibility that the larger, foreign bird might push the little finch babies out of the nest. But because the nest is in the middle of a hanging basket, they'd only fall into the basket and not to the ground, so I was okay with that. And I prefer to think of the "foreign" bird as adopted instead.
Here is the nest before the eggs hatched. The adopted egg is noticeably different than the others.
On 18 May, when I pulled the basket down to check the eggs, I found quite a surprise! Three of the eggs had hatched--including the adopted egg--and we had baby birds! They're so ugly when they're first hatched though, all bald little bodies and hungry mouths. Here are the babies at Day One:
Eventually, four of the eggs hatched. I don't know what happened with the fifth; it wasn't pushed from the nest because it's nowhere to be found in the hanging basket or on the balcony. We ended up with three tiny baby finches and their larger, adopted sibling. Here they are at Day Six, slightly less ugly and starting to look like birds. The adopted bird has grown quite noticeably larger than his brothers and sisters. (He's also the one looking at the camera. He was always the first to respond when I would move the nest, opening his mouth to be fed. I was a bit concerned at first that he might take the others' food, but they all seem to be growing quite well.)
When I checked the birds the other day, the nest was getting crowded. They've all grown, especially the adopted bird, who looks like he's going to be quite large. Lo and behold, today I noticed something odd about the behavior of the mother and father birds, noticeably that they would fly at the balcony doors until I thought that they were going to crash, then flutter down to the balcony floor.
I'm a country girl at heart, and I knew what that meant. Sure enough, when I looked out the door, there's a little bird hopping around the balcony.
Apparently, the adopted bird either decided that he was ready to leave the nest or got overcrowded. (I figure the former because, otherwise, he could have simply settled in the flower basket. Also, he flutters strongly enough to break his fall when jumping from the table, I discovered when I tried to put him back in the nest.)
So here are the three remaining birds--the finches--now less crowded in the nest, today on Day Eleven:
And their adopted brother, being held by a strange girl in a zebra-print shirt and foodservice gloves me:
After he wriggled out of my hands, we discovered that he has learned how to perch...right on one of our lanterns!
He's taken to chirping almost constantly, and the parents now occupy themselves with feeding him on the balcony floor and feeding the other three in the planter. Actually, it really works quite well: The nest is no longer crowded and he's not in danger of being attacked by any predators on the ground. The worst part about it is that Bobby and I like to eat meals on our balcony, but now we'll have to wait until he flies off. He hops around constantly, and I'd be afraid of stepping on him.