Tangled Branches: Cultivated
happenings in and around my zone 6b gardens in northern Virginia and in central Virginia
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
The Eviction of Phoebe
A few weekends ago, I noticed an Eastern Phoebe checking out our porch ceiling fan at the country house. The weekend after that, a pair of them showed a lot of interest in the front porch, but they didn't seem to want to share it with me. Last weekend, I found their nest on the porch light by the front door. What a snug little thing - stuck to the top of the light with mud and lined with soft moss - just the perfect place to bring up a family. Well....I really didn't want it there (they got mud all over everything - walls, door, floor, doormat) but I think I'm incapable of destroying a bird's nest, so I just told DH about it. He was unhappy (like I thought he would be) and a short time later the nest was gone. To the best of my knowledge there were not any eggs in the nest. I asked DH if there were, and his response was "Would you leave it there if there were?". Translation: "I can't believe you would leave a thing like that on the front porch". I hope they find the perfect nesting spot - away from the house - but from what I read it seems that's their preferred location.
I'm fiddling with Photoshop Elements slideshows. They use Flash 9.0, and I don't know how well they would work for users with dialup connections. And I'm not sure if the additional overhead is worth it just for the special effects. I'd love to have some feedback (good or bad) - just leave a comment.
Still not much in the way of wildflowers at the country place. In the woods there were a few spring beauties, and the ferns are starting to unfurl. We're making a path through the woods with wood chips, and I'd hate to cover up any good plants, so in a way I'm glad I haven't found many. In a field across the road, I found field pansies. I had never seen these before and I thought they were just the cutest things - imagine a Johnny-Jump-Up, but more delicate-looking. How could they be weeds?
Labels: birds, wildflowers
6 Comments:
Please send them down my way.
I'm mourning the absence this Spring of the pair who have been
here each of the past nine years.
I keep hoping, but I don't think theyre coming
I've had to remove some robin's nest built in the wrong places on my front porch. I always feel bad doing it, but the one year I let them stay, it was a mess to clean after those birdies hatched and flew away. A big mess.
Marci, sorry to hear of your loss. Maybe some of their offspring will set up housekeeping with you. I'll look and listen for the pair that were here - I really hope they found another nesting spot close by.
Carol, my first thought was "How cool! - birds want to live with me." My second thought was "Noooooooooo! - not on the front porch." A couple of years ago I cut down a juniper that had fallen over during the winter, and found among the branches a (wren's?) nest with eggs in it. I placed it in another tree, but I don't think the birds came back to it. I really felt like a monster then.
Your slideshow worked well for me! I loved the bluets peeking up in the woods ... it was a neat way to see your pics!
It is always hard to remove bird nests, but hopefully your Phoebes will have found a new place to nest.
Last year we had a pair of starlings nesting at the edge of our attic. All spring, my husband said he was going to throw them out. He never did, and when the babies were born, we let them be raised there till they were gone.
This year, there are a pair of starlings again, same spot. Hubby is again saying he's going to throw them out. hmm...
Salix Tree: I think your husband may be more sentimental than mine :-) But we had some house sparrows nesting under the eaves of our garage, where it was inconvenient (ladder, mess, etc.) for us to remove their nests. We threw them out one time and they came back, and then stayed for years. The only reason they're not there now is because we covered over that area with screen when we re-sided the house. Then they just moved to the holly tree nearby.
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