The Empty Nest

Since we have lived in this house (about 5 years now) we have had several sets of birds attempt to nest on or near our house. The hummingbirds in the bush by our front door were successful once and we had 3 baby hummingbirds grow to maturity. The doves that tried 3 times were never successful. They built a "nest" on a small cap on one of our front porch pillars. The "nest" they built was maybe 10 sticks randomly placed on the cap. It obviously was not sufficient to hold the eggs on the cap and they rolled off onto the porch every time. Finally we put something on the cap to keep them from building there so they tried a different cap with the same result. I felt bad for the dove parents but also could not believe how stupid they were.

This year, different birds (we think they may be cardinals although not red) built an actual nest (nest shaped with all sorts of stuff holding it together) on one of the caps and successfully raised 4 baby birds. There were several interesting things about watching it happen from day to day.

First, the mother made a clicking noise when she approached with food and the babies heads popped up with beaks wide open at the sound. Our front door makes a similar noise when it opens so when we opened the door, the heads also popped up beaks open every time. They had amazing instincts.

Second, the mother was very protective (as all mothers are) and made different sounds when we were out and about to warn the babies to stay down in the nest and they did. She also dived at us if we got too close. It was the one time I wished I could talk to animals to explain to the mother that we would not harm the babies and that we lived there too.

Third, the babies were hatched, fed, grew and flew away all within a matter of about 3 weeks! They were literally bigger everyday and were gone before we knew it. They hung around the yard for a few days after they left the nest but then they were gone and all we have left is the nest (and massive amounts of poop).

I guess it made me think about my own empty nest and how quickly my 4 beautiful babies were gone. I guess I am still coming to grips with being an empty nester. There are definitely times when I long to hear the house filled with children's voices, help with homework, do laundry so there are clothes for school, and call everyone in from play for dinner. Unfortunately during those brief years it didn't seem so enjoyable most of the time. More often than not I felt like the nervous mother bird just trying to keep the babies safe, keep them fed and keep intruders away. I rarely enjoyed the growing, fun, and happiness that happened in the nest. And as all mothers do, I hope my girls will be better at this than I was.