We Have Finches on Our Balcony

[dawn_felagund]

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

Comments

[atanwende]

Baby birds! That's so cool. At my parents' home there are swallows, who are pretty cool, too.

Over here, in the midst of the town, there are only fat, ugly, stupid pigeons who manage to get run over by busses because they won't fly away.

[dawn_felagund]

I once had a friend who called pigeons "rats with wings." I think that it fits. :)

I've never seen a nest of swallows! We don't get a whole lot of swallows around here, mostly just finches, robins, and chickadees. And a whole range of aggressive birds (blue jays, mockingbirds) that I am glad didn't discover the snapdragons before the finches did!

[atanwende]

I once had a friend who called pigeons "rats with wings." I think that it fits. :)

My dad calls the "roof rats" and I think both terms fit really well. I mean, I really like animals, but pigeons are simply dirty and in that special case also stupid... ;)

I've never seen a nest of swallows!

Swallows' nests are little works of art, I think. They are a bit like little caves of sticks and dirt glued beneath overhanging roofs. Like that. Well, actually you cannot see the nest very well in that picture... but it was so cute... :-D

[dawn_felagund]

That is so cool! I've never seen a bird's nest quite like that before.

[ssotknapsack]

*Scratches head* Let me guess. You've named the birds Maedhros, Maglor, Celegorm, and Curufinwe (or something vaguely resembling that).

Oh, and the parents are Feanor and Nerdy Nerdanel.

If you haven't named them yet, I bet they have names now. :-P

[dawn_felagund]

I hadn't named them yet! But now I have! :^D

The adopted one--because he's big, pushy, and doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the family--will be Feanor. In the last picture of the nest, there's a particularly cute little guy curled up on the far right. He'll be Finarfin 'cause he's super cute. The other two will be Fingolfin and Lalwen.

The parents, of course: Finwe and Indis.

Thanks for the idea! :^P

[frenchpony]

But. . . but they're Finches! Atticus, Aunt Alexandra, Jem, Jean Louise! The adopted one could be Dill! Or Boo Radley!

[dawn_felagund]

But Feanor isn't a finch! Clever idea though! :^D

[digdigil]

#1: I love your new icons!

#2: These pics and the accompanying story are fab! We have a mourning dove sitting on a nest in our cherry tree at the front of the house. She's been there for almost two weeks now, so I expect her eggs to hatch any time! It is exciting to watch the baby birds (and their parents, too!).

#3: I just had to ask: are you watering your plant?

[dawn_felagund]

1. Thank you! :^D I absolutely required one of Hurley, who's my favorite character on Lost. Dude. :^D

2. Can you see into the nest? Some people find doves to be pest birds, but I love them. They're so serene-looking, and I love how they go everywhere in pairs. They make cool noises too.

3. Hehe, yes. It actually works quite well because the flowers are planted around the edge of the pot with a bare spot in the middle. That's where the nest is. So I take down the basket and water around the nest and can still manage to get all of the flowers.

Actually, that's how I discovered that there was a nest in there: I went out one night to water the snapdragons and accidentally poured water over Indis, who must have just laid her eggs! Oops....

[sinneahtes]

Awww! They're so ugly, but so cute at the same time! :D

I remember when I was a kid living in Illinois, a baby starling whose parents made a nest in one of our house's pipes fell down into our stove vents and ended up being raised by us, because we couldn't get it back to the nest. It was great fun how, after he flew off and we thought he was gone, he came back one day, saw Mom as she was chatting with the neighbor, and flew down to say hello, totally freaking out the neighbor. ;)

Birds are fun. ^_^

[dawn_felagund]

They're starting to become really cute because they look more like birds than pinkish, mostly featherless, bug-eyed...creatures.

That's such a cool story about the starling! I remember taking care of a robin once for about a day until we could get it back into the nest. It was quite a bit of work. I also remember my mom cutting up earthworms with scissors to feed it. Yech.

[ssotknapsack]

I recall a not-so-happy childhood story about baby birds and a king snake, but then I guess your nest is half full while mine is half empty and half eaten. :-/

[dawn_felagund]

Yes, I remember that too...but I was trying to recall the positive experiences! ;)

(Do you remember mom cutting up the earthworms, though? Yech!)

[tarion_anarore]

The piccies don't show up for me :(

[dawn_felagund]

Oh, boo. If you're interested, direct links

[tarion_anarore]

Thanks!