The Idiots Guide to Building a Nest

During the last week of school I was a mess. Rob was out of town, school was stressful with one of the dearest teachers retiring, all of the end of the year tasks, organizing a union president takeover (success), a meeting or party every single night of the week, and company coming on Friday. I was a blithering idiot.

On top of all this, a pair of robins decide to build their nest on the light above the back door. Ordinarily, I would not need to be involved but this pair needed assistance on nest building. Every morning when I went out back and every evening when I came home, the concrete just outside the back door was filled with mud and hay. Easily an entire bale of hay was left on the concrete and nothing was stuck on the light. I tried my best to scare them away and even talked to the pair about the folly of building their nest along this heavily used entry. I was hysterical because the mess was incredible and it was just one more task added to my day. Oddly enough, Ian left by this door to go to work every day but never noticed the mess. Each day I cleaned up the hay and hosed off the mud.

By Friday of the week, the birds were successful at cobbling together a nest.
If we were in the backyard or using the backdoor, the birds flew off the nest. Hilary and family were here all weekend and luckily it was 100 degrees because the parents got little or no time to sit on the eggs.

In spite of everything (despite everything?) 2 of the eggs hatched on July 12th. They were so funny to look at.
I have to admit, watching them reach forward with open mouth reminded me so much of Ian's nursing days. Although these guys have more hair.


By July 21st, the babies are feathered and their wing span is larger than the nest. They will be leaving soon (and I can clean off the light!) They have been fun to watch even though the parents freak when I lean out the window with the camera.