A nest with 3 baby birds was blown off the defunct light fixture where it was built on the back of my house. My wife found the dead birds on the deck and concrete in the backyard and the nest all over the place. This sucks! We were quietly observing the family of birds from a distance w/ binoculars. It was great to show my 4 year old son the mother and father constantly flying back and forth all day feeding, repairing the nest etc. I have to bury these poor things when I get home from work tonight so the boy doesn't run outside to play tommorow and see them . A gust of wind must of blown the nest down this evening around 7:30pm.
unfortunate accident
- Thread starter long-a-coming
- Start date
They had some fuzz on them, very little hair, pinkish, white, tiny, they were only a few days old. When I arrived home I saw the two on the deck they were stone dead. The one that landed on the concrete was still alive. I had on a pair of gloves and placed the bird back in the nest but the nest was too damaged from the fall. I then duct taped the nest to the back of the house and left it alone. I'm hoping for the best. The nest was built on a "ledge" which is in fact an old light fixture. It was leaning badly over one side earlier today and I saw the parents flying back and forth trying to repair it this morning. The nest was well shaded and protected by an overhang on the house. There were a few wind gusts here tonight maybe that did it.
As far you your son is concerned, I'd make the best of a sad event and use the opportunity to teach him about life and death in nature. At the age of four, you obviously can't get too far into it, but death is a part of life and even more so in nature. Nature can be downright cruel and violent by human standards, but it is under no obligation to follow our standards. If one is going to be a nature enthusiast, he has to learn about and accept all parts of it, good and "bad".
Good advice German. He didn't ask about them this morning. If he does I will tell him what happened. He is growing up so fast its unreal. The language he is aquiring and the memory he stores in his head is amazing.
Aww
That's terrible but you did all you could do to save them. Good job.
On that note, there is a Willet who has two eggs on the ground behind my house. It worries me to death that something is going to destroy or eat them. My neighbor told me he had raccoons under his house a while back but someone removed them. I haven't seen any around here but there is no telling. I saw a muskrat swimming down the canal but I don't know if they are a threat. What should I do? The Mom is not aggressive, just loud and I'm afraid she can't protect the eggs.
That's terrible but you did all you could do to save them. Good job.
On that note, there is a Willet who has two eggs on the ground behind my house. It worries me to death that something is going to destroy or eat them. My neighbor told me he had raccoons under his house a while back but someone removed them. I haven't seen any around here but there is no telling. I saw a muskrat swimming down the canal but I don't know if they are a threat. What should I do? The Mom is not aggressive, just loud and I'm afraid she can't protect the eggs.
On two occasions, I found what seemed to be remnants of a bird on my lawn. I suspected a hawk killed and ate the birds and left some feathers behind. I see hawks every now and then, but I was never sure if hawks prey on birds -- could have been something else?
ed
ed
