Leaving the Nest

I’m not much of a bird-watcher, but I do genuinely enjoy and appreciate all things in nature.  God's creation is really something to marvel at.  For this reason, we’ve been keeping a close watch on a cozy nestful of baby birds.  Tricia mentioned to me the other evening that a little bird was trapped in the garage.  We lifted the garage door and she flew out.  Only the next day she was back.  Odd.  We saw her again the following day and the day thereafter.

Then came the little tweeting sounds and after tracing the sounds, we discovered the nest.  A nestful of baby birds.  We counted five of them.

Baby Birds

Let me zoom out a little.  The momma bird placed her nest in a warm, dry, protective place.  If not for the sound of the chirping and the momma bird’s consistently flying in and out of the garage, we would not have located the nest at all as it was completely hidden from view.

Hidden Nest

Let me zoom back a little more.  The bird built her nest right above the front support of our canoe (The SS Garfish) that is stored overturned on the garage ceiling.  You can barely see it if you look right above the wooden support in the picture below.

The momma bird was very resourceful.  Even though we keep the garage doors closed, she discovered that there is a slight opening under the door that resulted from the threshold rotting.  (I’ve got to get that fixed!)  She deftly maneuvered herself underneath the door to bring her babies meals, proving that momma’s love their babies and seek to protect them, nurture them, and lovingly care for them even though it might not be easy.

Well, those babies grew and grew.  We put a ladder under the canoe and would check on their growth daily.  The other day when Benjamin climbed up to see the babies, one hopped out.  Unable to fly, Benjamin quickly scooped up the bird and gently placed it back in the nest.

Fast forward a few days to Saturday and when we woke up and went into the garage, there were five babies awkwardly hopping/flying around the garage.  There was also a nervous momma bird coaching them and scolding us while putting the young aviators through flight school.  One of the birds kept flying up on the window sill in the garage, thinking that she could fly through the window.  She would flutter against the window, not quite understanding why she couldn’t get outside when she could see outside clearly.

Freedom is in Sight

The momma bird sat on the hedge of Confederate Jasmine visible to her baby and chirped encouragement while her youngster looked at her through the closed window.  The baby was exhausted.

So close, but yet so far...

I guess I should have just opened the window, but I was afraid the little bird would fall into my rain collection buckets right outside the window.  So I scooped up the baby in my hand and sat her on top of the garbage can.

We get by with a little help from our friends.

This is a horrible picture, but the momma sat on the just budding branch of a pecan tree as she chirped incessantly, watching me handling her little one.

C'mon little one...

The next thing I knew the baby and the momma bird flew off!  They grow up so fast!  Just like human babies.  One day they are totally dependent on you and the next thing you know, they are flying (driving)off, leaving the nest, and out on their own, leaving nervous mommas (and daddies) behind, praying we did everything possible to give them the best foundation so their ‘flight’ will be a safe one - a successful one.  We do our best and leave it in God's hands and trust Him.

Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.  - Matthew 10:29-31

P.S.  I later found out from a friend that these were Carolina wrens.  I had previously assumed that even though it wasn’t yellow, it must be in the canary family – A canoery.  Sorry, What a bad, corny joke…