Wednesday, June 18, 2008

The Babies

One of the highlights of my summer so far has definitely been watching the Barnswallow family. Last we left, the babies were hatching and there were four babies. They were so tiny, it was hard to get a good picture without going outside, climbing up a ladder, sticking my micro lens in that nest, and taking a picture. I figured that might upset Mrs. Barnswallow, so I just limited myself to pictures from the kitchen window. There is one little baby in there. You can barely see him, but he's there. Look for the little yellow triangle in the middle of the nest. That's his beak!
After a few days, the little suckers started begging for food, and they kept poor Mrs. Barnswallow busy. I praised the Lord many mornings while I was doing dishes, after having fed my rascals breakfast, that I wasn't a Mama bird. What a thankless job. She flies away, hunts and finds a bug, brings it back, and all 4 of those little guys would fight for the food. Me, Mama! No, Me! Over here! I want some too! I tried to tell her she needed to make everyone wait to eat as a family, then she would have a little down time before lunch. But she wouldn't listen. To each his own.
Our whole family enjoyed watching the babies grow. We would often climb up on the counter top and check it out. I don't know which the Doodlebug enjoyed more; the babies, or climbing up on the counter.
After about 10 days things really started getting a little crowded, and I started worrying about someone falling out of the nest... or getting pushed. They were really crowded in there!
And the begging continued! Just look at them climbing all over each other. There's one little guy back there you can't even see cuz someone is sitting on his head! It just goes to show, it doesn't matter what kind of animal you are, children think the world revolves around them!

1 comment:

Roan Inish said...

Its amazing how big they've grown! You're so lucky to have a bird nest close to the house. All we have at the apartment is mosquitoes who sees us as yummy snacks.