In a related story...
We have an area at the back of our house that connects the house to the garage. The underside of this roof area is just lattice. Earlier in the Spring a Starling decided to build a nest in there.
Starlings are noisey noisey birds.
So when we had our back door open on a warm Spring day, the sound of the screeching mama bird and her babies was quite prominent.
It drove Jeff nuts.
The mama bird would be in and out of the lattice bringing food to her babies, who were squawking away in excited anticipation. Makenna was beside herself wanting to see these babies so one day I made Jeff push the camera through the lattice to get a picture.
She wanted to see them and hold them up close so badly.
Jeff watched that nest almost as closely as Makenna did, waiting for the moment the babies were big enough to fly out. The nest and the noise were driving him crazy. It's right by the BBQ, right by all the kids outdoor toys, right at the door to the garage. He was just itching to destroy that nest but I refused to allow him to when there were still babies in it as I knew it would devastate Makenna.
Finally the day came and they both actually saw the last baby bird fly out. It wasn't 5 seconds before Jeff had that nest ripped out of the lattice. Makenna begged to keep it in her room as a "souvenier", but even I put my foot down and said no to that.
Last weekend I was cleaning out our back room with the back door open while Jeff was away at Fire College. I kept hearing the familiar squawking noises coming in and out of the lattice right near the door. As I was cleaning away I watched yet another Starling build a new nest in that exact spot. I couldn't help but giggle. Makenna, of course was just thrilled, and couldn't wait to tell Daddy when he got home.
Daddy, was not thrilled.
He couldn't believe it.
The Universe was out to get him.
He threatened all this past week to tear it out, and once again Makenna and I forbid it.
Then this afternoon, while Makenna and I were purging the toys in the basement in preparation for an upcoming yard sale, Jeff called us upstairs. This is what we found him doing:
I was not happy. Makenna was over the moon.
Jeff couldn't believe there were more eggs, and thought it was late in the season for this to be happening. Again.
Makenna begged to keep the nest, eggs and all. b e g g e d us. We told her she couldn't touch the eggs or the mother bird would abandon them. She promised us she would take good care of them, keep them warm and be the mother bird. We said no. She said she would feed them with a dropper. We said no. Jeff was quite pleased with himself until I demanded he put the nest back. He looked at me like I was crazy. I told him Makenna was going to have her eyes glued to this situation now so he had to put them back and let the eggs hatch and the Mama do her thing. He wanted to put them "somewhere else". I refused. Makenna was witness to all of the conversation, never letting go of her grip on that nest. Finally, Jeff agreed to put the nest back.
He pryed open the lattice to push the nest back in.
And to my relief he got it in.
Then, he pushed at it some more.
When it was already back in place.
He said the eggs weren't positioned right.
Then all 3 eggs fell to the ground and broke.
Right infront of her eyes.
Everything got very quiet in our backyard. Even our next door neighbours.
The silence was broken by the sound of our back door slamming as Makenna stormed inside.
I looked at Jeff, who was trying to hold in his laughter, and told him to go deal with his daughter.
All I have to say about that conversation is this:
a) she is her Mother's Daughter.
b) she made him feel like the scum of the Earth.
c) When she becomes a teenager (or maybe even before that), it's going to be interesting between those two.
He swore to her it was an accident, she called him a liar. He said he was sorry and that adults made mistakes sometimes.
He tried to bribe her with freezies.
He washed away the reminders, she got over it, and I suggested he cover the lattice.
What are the odds of a third nest?
:)
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