A silly little sparrow (or finch) built a nest and lay eggs in a dwarf Alberta spruce that I have in a pot!!! Ridiculous, b/c it is inches from my front door and a clever cat's paws! I've been watching the 4 blue eggs, and today, there were 3 babies!!! One egg has yet to hatch... you can only see one baby in this photo, but there are 3 others underneath. They are the size of a nickel!
The cute factor is off the charts!!!
This is what the eggs looked like last week- that is DWARF Alberta spruce! Teeny-tiny nest and eggs!!!!
Just wonderful!! They are so beautiful.
Debbie
Cute, I love to watch bird nests - the birds grow so fast.
I have house wren that is using my bird nest box for the second year. Busy-busy-busy!
It appears that the main item on the dinner menu is spiders.
Chuck
Looks like a finch nest as their eggs are known to be greenish-blue in color with black or brown specks and they prefer conif trees. Also sparrows tend to build high nest with a tunnel like entrance.
Pixie, thanks for the I. D.! It is a heavily striped, tiny bird- the same kind that hop around trash cans in the city. So I don't have anything rare or wonderful here; but then again, isn't getting to see eggs hatch and the chicks grow always rare and wonderful?
I just checked, and all 4 chicks are now hatched. They are tiny and so weak, it's hard for them to gape or make much noise, thank goodness! WHAT am I going to do about Jax when they start to make noise, then to fledge???
Is this your new neighbor?
http://sdakotabirds.com/species/house_finch_info.htm
Nope. My "neighbor" (try freeloader) is a heavily streaked bird w/ lots of black on it's face, plus no reddish coloring. It moves so very fast that I can't describe it any better. I think it is a European finch (?) it is so common that we didn't cover them in the Ornithology class I took.
This one more like it ? http://www.birdingisrael.com/birdNews/recentSightings/2006/img/mid_april/BCFinchLark.jpg
Needs more heavy black striping on the wings and back- plus darker brown.
Cute!! Can you keep Jax inside until the birds are gone?
I am fighting w/ Jax right now! He's locked inside and is howling to get out. He got over my improvised fencing and had his nose in the potted tree earlier today. Since the chicks have been born, Mom and Dad bird have been swooping in and out of the tree, catching Jax's eye. I will let him out only with my strict supervision; he'd rather go after a chippy or something that doesn't fly.
I might add that it was pretty stupid of this bird family to raise youngsters in a potted plant inches from a cat!!! I will do my best to keep them safe, but I count on Sturdy little Jax to keep my voles/moles/mice under control, and he is puzzled as to why he can't do his job!
Yeah, birds aren't the brightest... ever hear of "bird-brain"? Still, the little chicks are innocent!
