Baby birds and nesting wrensBy Pat Gibson spring 1987 |
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When we saw the blue jay fall off the telephone wire across from the Springer office, we were concerned it was ill. The flight pattern it took was erratic and it seemed out of balance. With a bit of clumsy flying, it managed to get back on the wire. Then we saw the reason for the performance. It was a baby bird. Thought the young blue jay looked the same size as the parent, the parent bird landed next to the baby and fed it. This time of the year you see that often. Baby birds get their full growth before they leave the nest and it looks strange to see the parent feeding another bird almost identical in size. The tip off is the way the young bird flys and the fuzzy feathers.
Out on the bird feeder we have seen several baby field sparrows recently. When they sit on the balcony rail, I have to look twice to be sure my eyes are working because the edges of the little bird look so blurred. They have most of their adult feathers but some of the fluffy down is still evident. They are still dependent on the parent birds for food, but the little field sparrows at the bird feeder were learning fast. By the third day we saw them, they had made it to the feeder shelf and were eating seeds themselves.
We'll have more baby birds to watch soon because the house wren has started two nests on the balcony. The pair that next on the shelf we provided are already sitting on eggs. There is also a pair with a nest on the shelf above the picnic table. They must not mind human kind because we eat out there quite a bit.
The most unusual nest we have on the place is in the clothes pin bag. Because I don't like to get out in the sun, I have my clothes line on the balcony. The clothes pin bag was hanging on the line, empty as usual. (Have your ever noticed how clothes pins are like sharp pencils, they are never around when you need them?) This past weekend, crew four and five were playing with their dolls on the balcony when they called me out in a loud stage whisper. A pair of wrens was very busy stuffing the clothes pin bag full of soft oak blossoms, twigs and string. They ignored the girls and their dolls playing not five feet away. The bag sways in the breeze but that didn't seem to bother the wrens. They now have a nest built in the deep clothes pin bag on the balcony. We'll keep you posted as to how the family is doing.
Lots of baby critters have funny reactions to their new world, but that's another story.
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