Close on the birdhouse that is shaped and painted like a cactus with three bright pink flowers and the word “welcome” at the bottom. There is a round hole in the center. Two baby birds with yellow mouths poke their heads out, along with some sticks that are part of the nesting material.

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   Christy Marx Rambling Writer (christymarx@beige.party)'s status on Wednesday, 25-Jun-2025 07:25:20 JST Christy Marx Rambling Writer

   One of the bonuses of undertaking the Epic Trapping Project (to catch a feral mama cat and her kittens), is that I visited the side of a house where the owners had installed a decorative birdhouse. I suspect anyway that they thought of it as primarily decorative, but a small pair of birds saw that it was a perfect, safe place to nest. I haven’t figured out what kind of bird they are yet. If you can tell, let me know.

   Every day, I would get to hear the chorus of cheeps from the babies and watched mom and dad coming back almost nonstop with food for them. The parents would make a rapid chittering sound to alert the babies when they were arriving with food, and that would really set off the cheeping.

   Over the weeks, I began to see the little heads poking from the opening, getting bolder about food.

   And then, the day after I took the last photo, they were gone. No sounds, no movement from the birdhouse. I think there may have been two babies and I guess they both fledged at once. It sure seemed to happen quickly. I miss hearing them.

   #MarxToot #BirdsOfMastodon #birds