So I did the most horrific thing yesterday and my children were standing right there to watch it all unfold. Now, before you start letting your minds run away, let me assure you that I haven't broken any laws or cursed at someone in a public place. I'm just not that type of girl. Having said that though, I have to add that I'm not the type of girl to do what did happen, yet it did happen.
My dad's been telling me about these blue birds that have been building a nest in the newspaper box beneath his mailbox for about a week now. All of us Carlson's here in Virginia have had a bird family make its home somewhere strange in our yards - so we share this kind of stuff with each other out of amusement and commonality.
This particular bird family at my dad's house had picked a bad location. Every time my dad would go to get the mail, the birds would fly out at breakneck speed, freaked out by the close proximity of a human being. My dad would in turn be freaked out by the thought of getting beaked in the eye by a bird. Now he was asking me what he should do about the delimma.I told him he had to take the nest out before they finished building it and laid eggs in it. This advice came from my experience with unbuilding a nest about ten times this spring that was being built on the porch light right outside our front door - I just knew we couldn't have baby birds by the front door.
So, as we were leaving dad's house yesterday, he asked me to have a look at the nest. I did - there were no birds in it - and the nest looked only partially complete and totally empty of any eggs or babies. I told dad I would take the nest out for him. My Christopher handed me a stick and I slid the nest out of the box and onto the ground. As soon as it hit the pavement, I felt my stomach drop. Crack! Smash! Split.
Four beautiful blue eggs and one speckled brown one hit the ground and smashed open, sending deep yellow yolk and clear whites oozing across the curb. Hannah let out a little gasp. Chris said , "Uh, mom?" And Soren sealed the deal with, "Did you just kill the baby birds?"
I felt sick. I didn't know what to do. I just took five babies away from their parents. My cousin with the quintuplets flashed in my mind. And here were my kids, witnesses to my crime. How cruel of me. What was I thinking? Why didn't I see those eggs? I'm so sorry baby birds. I'm so sorry mom and dad bird. I'm sorry, Chris, Hannah and Soren.
The last thing I did was get the hose out and wash the egg and nest remains away and down the gutter. Then I got in my car and cried most of the way home.
2 comments:
Oh, how sad. But, it was probably the best thing. Last year the momma bird that put a nest in the boxwood on our front porch and then once it started to get warm and we were going in and out more she decided to try to move the eggs. Everyday I would find another egg slat on the porch. At least the mom didn't have to try to move them herself because it wouldn't have worked. To bad dad didn't try to move the nest earlier.
hmmmm. I'm trying to think of something sympathetic to say but you know me.. unsensitive as they come..I believe these birds have several mating times during the year. (Not just once) So they should be able to find a better place to nest and then try again. Plus- you didn't mention any bird fetuses so the eggs were relatively new. So think of this like dropping eggs from your refrigerator. Chickens are birds- blue birds are birds- They both have eggs, sometimes they get accidently dropped or purposefully eaten ;-).
-Chris
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