Sunday, July 11, 2010

THE MYSTERY OF THE CHIRPING DOOR

I heard a bunch of squawking coming from just outside my front door and looked and found a bird nest in the decorative wreath Mei had hung there.

It's pretty nifty. I can stand inside my house and I have front row seats to all the bird happenings.

Seems like the whole process takes about 2 weeks. This is during the more disgusting phase where you can see their translucent flesh and veins.
The eye lids are so thin you can see the color of their eyeballs underneath. There's a lot of worm eating going on during these weeks. Lots of squawking and worm eating. Actually they are eating their mom's wormy vomit since they can't chew for themselves yet. It never gets boring.

Here they are starting to get feathers. You can also see where the mom bird has been relieving herself down the front of my door. Real classy, Mom.

Here's the mom. She's always watching me at a safe distance. I guess it's the mom. Maybe it's the dad. It's the worm-bringer; that's all I know.

She started getting more brave when she realized I wasn't trying to kill her or her babies.
When they aren't eating they're sleeping and waiting for more worms. As soon as the mom swoops back in they all instantly wake up and start clamoring for worms again.
Eventually they filled the nest up like they were a cup of liquid with 3 overflowing heads. I like the way that bird's beak zigzags and the upper part fits exactly into the lower part.

Once, one of them fell out of the nest and I wondered if I should put it back or not. The mom was squawking up a storm. I believe that's an old wive's tale that if you touch a baby bird the mom will reject it. I put it back in the nest the mom continued to feed it her worm vomit.

Eventually they all flew away leaving me with nothing but a boring old poopy door.

THE END

14 comments:

  1. Most intriguing log title ever here at KW's MONSTER BLOG ! And a funny ending to boot !

    I think, however, your door will only be boring until the swallows come back to Capastrano next season, and the next generation takes over their heirloom wreath.

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  2. Clever mother......this is a robin's nest right?

    Lot's of worm eating and squawking....sounds like some jobs I've had over the years!!

    Metaphorically speaking, of course.

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  3. Cool post Keith, like watching Marlin Perkins on Mutual of Omaha's WILD KINGDOM.
    translucent, veiny things eating their Mom's worm vomit... hmmm, why am I thinking that K.W.'s going to have a new comic strip coming up out of this experience? :)

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  4. Lysdexicus and Willy and R/E and Apocolyte,
    Thanks guys! Willy, you are right; it is a robin's nest

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  5. i can't wait to share this one with the kids. they will be impressed. my mom had the same thing happen to her, and she still has the babies....her wreath came with a nest as a decoration, and some silly bird took a liking to it and had 4 eggs in it.

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  6. Haha!

    This one had 4 eggs for a while and then one disappeared. It wasn't on the ground under the nest so maybe the mom hauled it off.

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  7. We were standing outside my mom's house, and I said "wow, your wreath even came with fake eggs!" I picked one up & gave it a slight pinch, & it broke! The other three hatched and are doing fine. THe mom is okay with people going in and out the door.

    Birds are weird. I still don't like them.

    THe kids loved these pictures!

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  8. Heh, you are right... the warning not to handle baby birds because of the mom has "super smell" is an old wive's tale!

    http://www.snopes.com/critters/wild/babybird.asp

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  9. Ha ha! You squeezed an egg. I did that at my great grandma's house when I was little.

    Kevin, Ah ha! We've been lied to yet again!

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  10. It's amazing that they chose the door since it's always being opened and closed.

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  11. At night when I let my dog out the mom would sit in the nest and ride door as I opened and shut it. They don't fly away in the dark so I was able to stand right next to her.
    Thanks Jay

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  12. I think this is one of my favorite posts from you! I loved this!

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  13. Thanks Brian, for the comment and the visit!

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