For the Birds

I love watching the birds that come to our feeder, so when I looked out and noticed a nest in the rosebush right outside our living room window, I was so excited.  I tiptoed out and peeked in - three little featherless birds in it who poked up their head and let out tiny squeaks for food!  Soon a mama cardinal flew in and fed them, and I was instantly "twitterpated"!  But later that afternoon, the wind kicked up, and I noticed the nest was tilted at a bad angle.  Sure enough, a few gusts later and two baby birds were dumped on the ground.

Now I know that this is just part of life, but I could not bear the thought of them dying there on the ground right outside my window.  Especially when the mama bird hopped over and stood over them, helpless to do anything about it!  So with Naomi and Johnathan standing at the window, I carefully scooped them back into the nest with a wooden spoon.  At this point, I'm sure I had interefered enough, but I was already emotionally invested in seeing these birds make it!  So when the nest flipped them out 2 more times, I pushed up my sleeves, got out some gardening tools, and secured the nest with a branch and got those babies back in it.  

Poor things, they had been scratched by thorns, and I wondered if I had scared the parents off completely.  I'd probably already done too much, so I closed the blinds, drew the curtains, and got my own babies off to bed.  We snuggled on the living room floor and read about how God know each sparrow that falls, and how we are so much more valuable than the birds. 

 But I couldn't resist peeking out the window that evening.  To my relief, mama cardinal was back, sitting on her babies to keep them warm! 

 In the following days, I spent way too much time peeking out at the nest to see how they were doing.  I'm happy to report that a few days ago all three left the nest and followed their parents across the yard to some nearby bushes.  Here's one hanging out, enjoying his or her independence and stubby wings...

 So cute!  And our yard is aflutter with little birds.  Young sparrows are chasing their parents around, demanding seeds, and now we have a nest of baby mockingbirds in a different rosebush.

I'm just glad they are too far away to see from the living room window - some people spend too much time on Facebook, but my current vice is birdwatching!