Family Birdwatching!
Hello again! I thought I’d start today with a little glimpse into our family life…this morning my son and I completed our first-ever bird house project! It’s one of the ones they give you for free at Home Depot on Saturday mornings (a very cool feature). My son did all the nailing, and then we painted it together. He is very proud of our work! Just a neat example of how bird watching can be a fun family activity. He is hoping that we will get some house finches, chickadees, or titmice to build a nest inside. Of course, we’ll keep you updated!
Speaking of updates, I must sadly report that our robin nest is officially empty. I suspect our catbird is the culprit, as he immediately flew into the tree and started squawking at me when I took this picture today. The robins haven’t been in the nest for several days, and there hasn’t been enough time for nestlings to hatch and fledge, so it indeed appears to be a sad end (well, unless you’re a hungry catbird…but then you wouldn’t be online reading this blog…I’ll just assume 
we were all rooting for baby robins).
On a lighter note, here’s a friendly little chipping sparrow from this morning. Lots of the usual customers at ye olde red seed plate today: chickadees, titmice (mousebirds), cardinals, but no bluebirds. Once again they are nowhere to be found, and I haven’t seen them since early last week. Bluebirds…where are you? Dave
If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader or email.
Comments
Thanks! He is a great son and enjoys our birds a lot. Of course, he did say yesterday that he likes Chico (our neighbor’s cat) better. “Chico’s more interesting than the birds,” he said. :-)
My oldest son (he’s 45 now) has a love for nature and wildlife also. When he was a child, he even had a big bug collection… He brought in bugs that even I wouldn’t touch!!!! A few years ago, he spent a few years in Alaska.. One of his escapades was a backpacking trip into the wilderness up there. You can only imagine what kind of wildlife he saw!!!! ha… Your son is a handsome dude–like his Papa… Makes me wish mine were little again!!! (I raised 3 sons!)
Great pictures Davie ! I teach school in Ky and building bird houses was the last project we did this yr. My bluebirds are still coming to get their mealworms. They do come closer to me now, but not to my hand. I will be patient. I’ve not seen the babies. I hope they come around to visit the ole home place.
This is the first time I’ve been to your site–following from On Carolina Wings. Wonderful that you and your son do nature things together. He may like the cat now, but he will always remember building the bird house with his dad. I hope you’ve explained to him that the birds might rest in it this winter, but that they won’t build a nest till next spring, so he doesn’t expect baby birds now. I don’t think a catbird would raid a nest, btw–they aren’t like bluejays. Much more likely to have been a snake, which the catbird’s squawking may have been about too, or a raccoon.
“Hi, Daddy! We really liked your bird blog! I never knew you had put the rose breasted grosbeak on your blog.” You’ve got great talent, and we enjoy seeing what you can do! :)
What a good dad you are!!! It looks like you guys were having a lot of fun!! Thats a bummer about the baby robins! This is my first ever blog entry- just so you know. I am feeling very 21st century!!!
Have fun! Do good! Work hard!!
Betsy, fun stories! I would love to see Alaska one day…I’m quite envious of your son! Thanks for your kind compliments, too.
Sis, good to hear from you again! Oooo…I would have loved to have been a student in your class with fun projects like that. Your kids will grow to be bird lovers, too! Glad your bluebirds are still around and growing in their courage.
Bruce, thanks for the visit! You sound like a dad as well. My son and I have talked about the delayed gratification on the nest building possibilities. He saw a house finch hopping around it this morning and liked that, but he’s not expecting a nest this year. We’re putting some extra seed close to it to “advertise.” Thanks, too, for the good info on the catbirds. You are probably right about the snake theory, as we have seen a large black one (rat snake?) in our neighbor’s yard recently.
Family, thanks again for your great support!!! I love that you come and check out my “handiwork.”
Kris, I guess you could be under the family heading as well. Way to go on your first-ever blog comment, and of course I’m honored that it was here! Your dad comments are biased, but thank you nonetheless. I agree on the robbin bummer; guess they should have been more careful…pa-lee-gro! Pa-lee-gro! Just rest. Bunny froggy.
Subscribe to RSS
What a great father/son activity…and quality time together. I admire that you are teaching your son at an early age to appreciate nature and animals.