Yesterday afternoon, Caleb came running into the house to tell me that he'd found a baby bird in the yard that had fallen out of its nest - he could hop, he could chirp, he couldn't fly. His life was in grave danger from Kim the Cat (who by the way thinks he's a mighty hunter but we all know differently.)
Caleb asked me if we could put it back in the nest. So, being the good Mom that I am I ventured out to see what I could do! We soon discovered that the nest Baby Bird appeared to have fallen from - the same nest where a Robin was hovering and anxiously chirping - was approximately...... ummmmm..... 20..... 30....... feet up in the tree - WAY out on a limb that we could never get to. I might add that not only did Caleb want to keep the bird, but he wanted me to take it to the vet. That's where I drew the line........ sorry, but that's just a little over the top and it was at that point that I tried to explain the 'circle of life' to Caleb. Work with me here.... after all, it's just the nature of 'things' to fall out of nests, and get eaten.... by a cat, or a snake, or any other manner of critter that might venture out of the woods. I mean - seriously!!!
I recalled seeing an empty nest in one of our smaller trees, and also recalled that we had baby birds in one of our pine trees a couple of years ago. In fact, I saw an empty nest in the pine tree not too long ago. Instead of going straight to the pine tree though, I began to search through our smaller trees where I thought I might find another nest within reach.
This is the tree where I hoped I could find an empty nest in which to place "Baby Bird-with-a-broken-wing-can't-fly-but-only-chirp' bird. (The same bird that I WON'T take to the vet.) There's an empty nest in there somewhere, I just know it. As I searched, I found yet another somewhat 'small-ish' surprise!!!
I found a nest....... but it wasn't empty. It was small-'ish'...... but it was most definitely NOT empty.
YES, Dear Friends, THAT is a H-O-R-N-E-T-'s nest........ in our FRONT yard. The same yard where our grass grows, and we mow it occasionally. The same yard where the previously mentioned kid (Caleb) and friends play FREQUENTLY - DAILY!!! The same front yard where there were 6 kids played last week, in and around said tree playing baseball, hillbilly golf, swinging from the branches (or trying to). SCARY!!!If you look closely, you can see a couple of the little 'bees' swarming in and out. I tried not to get too close, but I had to get some pictures. I've hopefully got a better picture with the telephoto lens on my 35 mm camera...... (Yes, Chris - the one that I still have to get the film developed!!) I'll share better pictures later.
Baby Bird now resides in THIS tree! Just a few feet away from the Hornet's, but probably not nearly high enough to protect him from snakes, cats, and any other manner of critter that may venture out of the woods.
Oh, and here is a picture of the 'mighty hunter' - Kim the Cat, lounging on a concrete ledge that drops approximately 20 feet just behind him. Just 'hangin' around mind you!!!
