Ambitiously Misguided Robin
9 May
I had not intended to post anything today. The sky is grey, rain is forecast any moment and there are noisy contractors building a new fence around the garden.
But then J was walking through the entrance hall and her eye was caught by something outside the window next to the front door. Outside the door there is a ceramic pot that has twice been used by Carolina Wrens to lay eggs and raise their young, albeit not for some years. Today a Robin has started to build a nest there. However, being a bird of very small brain she has decided to not use the secure, open-to-the-air inside of the pot (full of well aged nesting materials) but instead to construct on top.
Advantages to the Robin of nesting here … it is sheltered from rain and strong winds and it is not accessible by predators. These are plus points.
Disadvantages - the pot is glazed ceramic and thus slippery. Whatever she manages to install is going to be liable to sliding off without too much encouragement.
Story to be continued.
We had wreaths that if we left it out too long, in the spring a bird would have a nest in it and would lay eggs. However, it was the front door and eventually it would abandon the eggs. So now I tell my husband to get ride of the wreath before the spring birds build a nest.
Just like birds anywhere that are getting comfortable around we humans. Two days ago I pulled in to the driveway and a robin flopped onto the hood (bonnet) and sat there for 10 minutes eyeing me through the windshield, occasionally tapping on the glass as if it were asking a question. What could I answer? They need our help! There is a wonderful Nature program about hummingbirds in Hollywood, all about nursing injured birds/orphans. Bob Barnhurst