As detailed on this blog a number of times, Miles really likes birds. While we see plenty of birds in our backyard, we’ve had the benefit (?) this spring of seeing some bird families take up residence on our front porch. It’s given Miles something to stare at from the front door on days when it’s too rainy or too hot to go outside.
The nests, situated as they are on the small ledge between the porch roof and the top of the support beams, have never been the most structurally sound. In fact, both nests were built at least a year ago, with the new tenants adding some materials and moving in a few months back. Evidently, buying a new home is tough for birds as well as humans in Charlotte.
The precariousness of the placement of these perches suggested all along that, eventually, at least one would come crashing down, and today it finally happened. Burdened by having to support four babies, the nest finally gave way, with half of it crashing down and carrying two of the newborn birds with it.
Knowing that the baby birds meant a lot to Miles (and probably feeling that letting the babies die on our watch would somehow reflect poorly on us as parents), Jaclyn and I set about trying to rescue the besieged infants, building a new nest in a box and placing as close to the remains of the original nest as possible. I tried to scoop up the babies, ultimately chasing one into some bushes (where I left it) and managing to snag one and deposit it into its new, spacious living area.
On the bright side, it gave Miles a chance to see a baby bird close-up. Let’s see if it makes it through the night.
UPDATE 6/9/19: It, in fact, did NOT make it through the night. Something must’ve gotten it (or it learned how to fly really quickly).
