Greetings, Poetry Lovers! Greetings from "Travelers Nest," to be precise. We live in Travelers Rest, but when we bought this house a few years ago, I had a little sign made for the front porch that says, "Travelers Nest."
I'm always excited when birds nest near us. (Though I've had to stop putting a spring wreath on the front door; we need to use the door!)
This year we replaced an old bird house with a new nesting box for bluebirds. Two, actually. I've seen activity at both (one out front and one in the back), but know the back one was definitely used, with a mom and dad going in and out over recent weeks. It's quiet now; curiosity got me today, so I lifted the little side door which has a hard plastic "wall" to peek through. Definitely a lot of nesting material going on (I'd seen pine straw through cracks in the bottom), but also remnants of, well, birds living there - so much that I couldn't see through. So I slid my cell phone through the opening at the top and took some pictures. Honestly, I can't make heads or tails of the messy situation in there, but I hope it led to baby birds which fledged while we were gone (maybe during the wedding week or such). I'll have to clean it out for the next time!
At the front of the house, I did see cardinals going in and out of the Chinese Fringe bushes we have at the front porch, maybe a month or so ago. I haven't been able to tell if they've really used the nest they built, as it's hard to see without making a ruckus, and I haven't wanted to encourage the dog to bark at them through the railing!
But one nest has for sure resulted in eggs. No sooner had I brought home a couple of hanging ferns for the front porch than I started seeing a small brown blur when I'd go out there. So small and so fast; I haven't been able to 100 percent identify it. It's not a Carolina wren; we used to host a pair every year back in Georgia. I was thinking sparrow (there are several kinds, of course!) but now I'm pretty convinced this little mama is a house finch. Yesterday after she'd flown off for a minute, I grabbed my phone and held it above the hanging basket, and I discovered the picture above - four eggs with one very brand new hatchling!
So now I'm keeping the dog mostly away fom the porch and trying to give Little Bird Mama a wide berth if I have to open the door. I can see the silhouette of her wee brown head looking at me when I do! She's literally too fast for me to properly i.d. when she takes off.
As the amazing David Sibley says:
Birders often struggle to distinguish the streaky brown birds, lumping them together with nicknames like "LBJs" (for "Little Brown Jobs"). Click here for more from BirdwatchingDaily.com.
I haven't seen Dad; that would help. But the eggs look like house finch eggs.
**FRIDAY MoRNiNG NEST UPDATE!** - ALL the eggs have hatched! I snapped a quick (blind) pic on my phone when Mama briefly flew off this morning, and the nest is full of very fluffy babies! I think there are four. :0)
Any bird nests in your realm?
Here's a little tribute to all of our feathered families, as a metaphor for our human ones, from British poet William Barnes (1801-1866):
HOME'S A NEST
O Home is a nest of the spring,
Where children may grow to take wing.
A nest where the young folk are bred
Up, to take on the work of the dead.
Where babes may grow women and men,
For the rearing of children again.
Where our children grow up to take on
Our own places, when we are all gone.
All forsaken, when children have flown,
Like a nest in the bush-top alone.
Where our children are bred to fulfil,
Not our own, but our Father's good will.
O, Home is a Nest!
The Home Book of Poetry, compiled by Dana Estes, Estes & Lauriat, Boston, 1882.
We have so many wonderful books of bird poetry, several by talented members in our Poetry Friday community! And, if haiku is for you, here's a little shout-out for the 2023 collection from bottle rockets press, Bird Whistle: A contemporary Anthology of Bird Haiku, Senryu & Short Poems, edited by Stanford M. Forrester/sekiro & Johnette Downing. I have a couple-few poems in there. Here's the link!
Thanks for coming by, and be sure to wing your way over to see Ramona at Pleasures from the Page for the Poetry Friday Roundup!
