I told y’all about the wren that built a nest in a plant on the deck — there were 4 tiny eggs in there. When I saw her slipping in the nest this morning with a worm, I knew we had babies.
Baby birds are hideous little creatures.
You’ve heard “a face only a mother could love” when describing ugly humans, right? Well… poor momma birds have got to be the best example of “love is blind.” Ever.
The good news is that they won’t be ugly like this forever. We aren’t sure yet if all 4 eggs hatched, but we should be able to tell once their eyes open and they start demanding those nasty worms. Right now, they’re still in the blind, pink and naked stage, but they should be feathered up with the ugliness covered in another week or so. These little specimens of spring will remain in the nest around 2 weeks — so long as nothing gets to them.
Once out of the nest, we can’t protect them anymore.
We’ve made sure to keep our hounds away from the nest, but once the fledglings leave, it will be up to their parents to guide them away from my dogs and neighborhood cats (that I HATE coming up on my deck and in my yard). Because they can’t fly perfectly right away, they’ll hang out a couple more weeks nearby being fed and protected by their bird parents.
I sure hope they take the little guys off the deck and into the trees behind the barndo. 😬
Now you know: India and Pakistan once escalated a diplomatic dispute into an international game of ding-dong ditch, with officials allegedly ringing each other’s diplomats’ doorbells at night and fleeing before anyone answered.