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The New Neighbors

12 June 2004, 11 am | Family, Photos

Four small baby birds in a mud nest on the side of a brick wall

A pair of little, brown swifts (maybe swallows) have built a little mud nest near our front door. Yesterday, the four five little chicks could be seen peaking over the edge. Make a noise and they open their beaks. They got all excited for a brief moment when the camera flash went off.

Mom and dad fly off every time the front door opens. They circle around the front yard and tweet at us. Poor little birds. We don’t mean to bother them. If they would build on the other end of the front porch, they would be less bothered by our comings and goings. Ironically, at night they just sit there on the edge of the nest and watch us.

This is our third summer in this house. The birds, presumably the same pair, have come back every summer too.

Update: Their eyes are open now.

Comments

  1. We had a family of Robins in the low branches of a tree in the front yard this year. It was a good educational process for the boys - seeing the blue-green eggs, then the baby birds, and then the baby birds with feathers. One day we went to check the nest, and it was empty! Not sure if the birds were old enough to leave the nest… perhaps one of the barn-cats up the hill got them.

    ∼ πλ · 13 June 2004, 6 am · by Steve Bogner ¬

  2. What a sweet picture! At my school, the little birds (look like finches) make lots of nests on top of the metal tubes encasing the wiring that runs along the top of the hallways. You would think they would look at all those teenagers and go somewhere else, but no…You can hear the cheeping of the babies everywhere you go, and the parents swoop in and out of the tubing. I have had to take one fallen abandoned baby to wildlife care, but it seems the kids leave them alone.
    My grandmother used to have a mockingbird that would make her nest above the front porch. Every time my grandma came out the door, the mama bird would dive bomb her head!

    ∼ πλ · 13 June 2004, 7 am · by micheailin ¬

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