A couple of evenings ago, I saw my dog with her ears up, perky, focused on something on the ground in front of her. It was a familiar stance, and it meant she was playing with wildlife. I went out hoping it wasn't another rat, and was surprised to see it was a bird. A not-quite-dead bird. Yuck. I looked around, and found a clearly baby and clearly dead bird nearby on the ground. My birdhouse was open, and the English sparrow nest had spilled out and there was bird poop everywhere. I dealt with the two birds (the second was motionless and limp by the time I picked it up, hopefully dead) and left the nest for the next day.
Yesterday morning, Abbey pranced by the window with a bird in her mouth, held by one wing. She set it down, and approached and backed off several times having a lot of fun. I went out there, and again it was a newly dead English sparrow, again disposed of before it got ripe enough for her to roll in it.
This morning, as I went in the back, I heard the familiar but unexpected chorus of "cheep cheep cheep cheep cheep" that indicated babies were about to be fed. I checked out the box that formerly held the English sparrow nest and there was no sound or activity there. As I cast about, a female cardinal appeared in the shadbush along the back fence and the cheeping ceased. Aha!
I had hosted cardinals before, in Chicago, so I knew what to look for. I approached cautiously, and peered into the thicket. There was the nest, with what looked like two beaks at least. In my photography days, I would have been out there with tripod and all trying for the best angle and a remote setup to get mama feeding. Now, life is too busy so here I am just writing about it.
The nest is now empty. I saw the dog nosing around under the nest, but there is no way she could have reached it. There has to have been a cat-astrophe. The feral cat population around here is omnipresent and tremendously annoying.
ReplyDeleteI didn't mind losing english sparrows, but the loss of cardinals is a tragedy.