Originally written on June 1, 2010
So I was out working in the garden on Saturday and noticed a starling flying up to the vent and poking its beak inside. These birds did not get a clear message the first time their belongings were forcefully removed from their dwelling. But why wasn't the bird going inside this time? I've watched enough nature programs to know what was going on. While the mother bird is laying or sitting on eggs, she won't leave the nest until the eggs hatch (with one exception, which will unfold shortly). The father bird brings her food during this time.
So once again I go through the process of uttering curse words in my mind (if you were in my mind you would have noticed that it was somewhat louder this time), getting the extension ladder and wire hook, and climbing up to evict these tenants. This time I knew that the mother bird would be in there, and I knew that she was going to freak the bejeebers out of me. I remove the flaps and insert my hook and stir it around. Sure enough, this gives the mother enough incentive to abandon her unhatched eggs, and she flies out and freaks the bejeebers out of me. I was braced for this and did not fall from the ladder. After a few tries, I successfully hook the nest and carefully pull it out along with its contents.
Did you know that starlings lay blue eggs like a robin? Neither did I, until Saturday.
This time I taped the vent shut, hoping that no one would need to do laundry for a few days. Now I have a cage thingy that I get to screw over the vent to keep the birds out. And if that doesn't work, you might find yourself reading a story describing whether or not birds are flammable.
1 comment:
we've had the same thing - sorry I didn't think to warn you! turns out we had to finally put some chicken wire across the flap that opens and since then, not a peep.
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