The Birds

They started building their nest at the beginning of February, just outside my front door, in the pie shaped ledge at the top of the cylindrically pillar which holds up my car porch. The pair worked diligently for about two weeks and then they disappeared. I thought they had decided not to nest there as a few years previously another pair of swallows had started to build a nest in the same spot only to abandon it half way through. The reason for the abandonment I’m not too sure about but I suspect it was due to the heavy traffic which goes through my front door on a daily basis, human, dogs and cats. Eventually the abandoned nest was taken down and all that was left was the mud stains on the newly painted corner.

They came back two weeks later. I spotted the mother sitting on the nest. Day in day out she sat there leaving it only temporarily to look for food. My cat had spotted her and made it her mission to piss off the bird on daily basis by jumping up on the wall that separates my house from my neighbours. The pair of them would make a hell of a lot of noise while diving at the cat. Whenever I heard them I would run outside and throw the cat off the wall and chase her away. I think the little birds realized that I was their ally and weren’t much afraid of me.

Another two weeks went by and I noticed a couple of egg shells lying in the driveway so I knew there had to be at least two baby chicks. A few weeks went by where I witnessed the mother and father coming and going with insects to feed the hatchlings. The cat of course still pestered them and of course I kept chasing her away. Towards the end of these two weeks I noticed little heads popping up every time food arrived and now as they grow larger and larger everyday a cacophony of chirping can be heard every time one of the parents come back to the nest with a nice juicy bug. I had first thought that there were only three but last week I notice a distinct fourth tiny head popping up much smaller than the rest. I figure it must be the runt.

The cat kept on terrorizing the parents and finally one day last week I got pissed and sprayed the cat with the hose. Since then I have not noticed her jumping on the wall but all it takes is for her to lie in the driveway to get the birds upset. The mother during these times will sit outside my door chirping loudly to get my attention. Once I chase the cat away all is quiet once again.
The birds should be leaving the nest pretty soon. They are quite large now, too large to hide in the nest. They sit in the nest with their tiny heads resting along the edge. In my mind I refer to them as eeny, meeny, miny and moe. They are constantly chirping although when danger is lurking I have observed the mother loudly chirping and her offspring will hunker down tightly together and keep ever so quiet until the coast is clear.

I love to stand just inside my door and observe the birds; it calms me and gives me peace of mind as well as makes me realize how wonderful and amazing life can be. Every now and then I have a chuckle at their little heads with down feathers standing on end and their overly large yellow beaks constantly open waiting for food to drop in from manna. I’ll be sad when they leave but that’s all a part of life’s cycle. My only worry now is when they start to fly; my fear is the damn cat will catch one of them in their ungainly flight. Hopefully I’ll be around to protect them.