I was greeted with a shocking surprise this afternoon while doing some housecleaning for the Finch Family. (You may or may not know that a family of finches took up residence in my porch-hanging begonias)
Way back at the start of spring, when we didn’t dare believe that winter would ever end, Isadora and I headed outside with an offering to the industrious bird-nest-builders that we knew would soon be beginning construction. We blogged the project here, and were hopeful that we’d see the results of our collaboration turn up in a nest somewhere. Quickly, though, I realized that all the nest-builders I saw were furtively working in secret, in the secluded, tucked-away subdivisions of the soffits of our house. Where we weren’t privy to the technicolor masterpieces I imagined they were weaving with stick, string, mud, and our lovely wool bits. A buzz-kill, to say the least, so I quickly forgot about the project and my grand, naive ambitions.
Then the Finch family moved in, and in the excitement of hosting them in my begonias, I never even noticed that they had selected a choice piece of blue wool and worked it into the nest beautifully. Only now, after the family has moved on, a generation has grown up, occasionally visiting our maple tree, do I see the fruits of our collaboration – a lovely, restrained use of color in a minimalistic, utilitarian setting. Those Finches…what exquisite style.
And while I’m on the subject of hosting bird families, I have to take a moment to say that I’m a lot surprised by our apparent hospitality to the bird community. I feel a little like the cool parents in high school, with the cool house, where everyone ended up hanging out weekend after weekend.
The Wren Family’s summer home, interior shot.
Wren home, neighborhood shot.
I guess I can’t blame them. It’s a child-friendly neighborhood, with good proximity to shopping, dining, and a burgeoning arts district, all at an affordable price. We’re glad to have them, too – the Wrens have proven to be a lovely, musical family, though they too have moved on to pursue their lives elsewhere.
We’re anxious to see who else moves into the area. A garter snake was seen a few days ago, scouting the area for suitable accommodations. They would diversify the neighborhood a bit, which is always good. We’d hate to be seen as exclusively catering to the Avian crowd.
Denise said,
July 24, 2008 @ 2:13 pm
Cool! We put out some brown fluffy yarn and other bits a month or so ago on our basketball net, as the birds were ripping the net apart to get fibers. I found that there is a robin nesting in our front tree, and it is beautifully decorated with all of the yarn.
Our teeny yard is home to not only birds, but also chipmunks, rabbits, and there used to be field mice (but I think our nightly opossum visitor had dessert).
greenchickadee said,
July 24, 2008 @ 2:25 pm
I can’t help but love those little wrens anyway. We had Carolina Wrens nest in our treehouse and they were darling. If I were a bird, I’d live in your “subdivision”.
Showers, indeed. « Five Green Acres said,
June 8, 2009 @ 9:43 pm
[...] right, Wren Momma. Then I should know better. But being that this is your family’s second summer in the Clothespin Cottage, I had thought we could be on a more neighborly level. Would a pie have [...]