My house finch flew the coop (I miss the little guy)

[baby_bear]

A pair of house finches built a nest in my fake hanging plant (in a basket) right outside my sliding glass door where I work, about a month ago. Two eggs were laid, and two chicks hatched a couple of weeks ago. They have all been keeping me company with their chirping and flying the comings and goings of mom and pop. The basket started flopping around in the wind about a week ago so I tied fishing line from the bottom of it to the house wall and a fence, like guy wires or spring lines. Pop like that and has been balancing on the lines to get the babies' attention ever since.

Mom disappeared about 5 days ago. The chicks got bigger and more lively. Pop has been trying to entice at least the older one out of the nest the past two days. About half an hour ago I stood up on a chair and was ready to take a picture of the little guy when Pop came by and WHOOSH! away flew the little guy following Pop into the trees.

Now there's one left by himself and Pop hasn't been back yet. I hope he's not abandoned.

It's just been a delight watching these birds. Even my cat has gotten into it. He lies on the bench under the hanging basket/nest and just watches. (He's 16 and a bit old to do anything more than watch. Good thing!)

I think I am now a "bird person."

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[Cobalt Violet]

1. House finches are pretty little birds.

I never saw nestlings though. Must be real cute.

[baby_bear]

4. Absolutely adorable.

I can't figure out what happened to Mom, though. I figure this was her second clutch of the season, since it's so late. Maybe she just got tired.

I kinda worried that Pop hasn't come back for his second baby yet.
It's only been about an hour though.

Pop is very pretty; red crown and breast. And he's loud! He sits on the guy wire and scolds my cat (who just gazes back).

The baby flew just great. I was amazed.

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[xchrom]

2. very cool!

i love to watch birds rear their young.
they are such good parents.
and the work? oy.

[baby_bear]

8. I can't believe all the energy the parents expend!

Mom did all the work on the nest, but Dad was there for moral support. Then he did all the feeding once Mom was in the nest.

And he's done it all the last week. I just hope he doesn't forget the second kid still here in the nest.

One day three big hawks came by and perched on the condos right across the driveway. I just went outside and stood in front of the nest until the hawks left. I have never seen hawks right here at my condo before!! They would have eaten the baby finches as an appetizer.

It's all nature, I know, but I was getting protective.

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[murielm99]

3. We have owls to the back of our property.

Sometimes, Mama Owl takes the babies to a tree right outside our front porch, and teaches them to fly. It is wonderful.

We had barn swallows years ago, but they left when my kids were small and active in the yard all the time. This year they came back. They are in an outbuilding that we don't use any more. I try to stay away, so they won't leave again.

[baby_bear]

7. What kind of owls?

That must be wonderful to watch.

Owls are so different from any other bird. Do the babies stay with mom for quite awhile?

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[murielm99]

9. These are Barn Owls.

They are quite pretty.

I am not sure how long their mothers stay with them. But I have watched them bring food and leave food for their babies. They leave quite a large cache of mice and voles for them. We watched one year, when a baby owl ended up being abandoned. It may have been injured, because it never learned to fly. The mother left all kinds of food for it for awhile, while she taught the others to fly. Eventually, it fell out of the tree, and one of our cats ate it.

For several years after that, they nested across the road from us. We could hear them. Now they are back.

When we first moved here, 27 years ago, the house had been empty for two years. The owls nested closer to the house then. One of the mothers used to fly into my head all the time when I went outside. She thought I was threatening her nestlings. After that first year, they moved back away from the house.

[madrchsod]

5. i have had a pair of morning doves nest

on our front porch for the last few years.. we could walk right up to them and they never flew away. this year we have a kitten and it spooked them so they nested elsewhere but we still hear them and see them everyday...

[Duer 157099]

6. I once had an interesting experience with house finches...

A neighbor cat had knocked a baby out of it's nest and I came on the scene right as the cat was stalking the baby in the bushes. I managed to find the little guy before the cat did, and took him inside. The nest had been way high in an Italian Cypress type tree, where there was no way to return him to.

So I made a little cage for him to stay in, and soon I noticed that both the mom and dad were buzzing around outside my window. I opened up the door to the house and the mom actually flew into the house, and went into the little cage to feed her baby!! All the while, dad was sitting on a branch right outside the window, watching.

We did this for several days -- I was feeding the baby also, but mom still would come in and feed her baby -- I mean, she actually flew instide of the house, and then walked into the cage. I was astonished, and still am.

Unfortunately, the story doesn't have a happy ending -- the little guy ended up dying, and for weeks mom and dad kept coming around looking for him. It was heartbreaking.

But, years later I had a similar opportunity, only with a Mockingbird -- and in this case, the baby survived and I was able to release him back to his mom when he was able to start flying. Actually this story is just as amazing or more, because I had found the baby the day we were leaving to go away on a 3-day car trip and I ended up taking the baby bird with us for the trip! When we returned, I noticed a Mockingbird buzzing around the backyard, and so I took the little baby out for his mom to feed him, which she did (even though he seemed to like Gerbers just fine). We did this for a week or two, until he was starting to jump and flap his wings, and then I let him go with his mom, which I videotaped.

In both cases, I had held and handled the baby birds quite a bit, and in both cases, the parents were fully willing to cooperate with me in taking care of their younguns.

Taught me alot and busted some myths, too.

[baby_bear]

10. wow, those are some stories!!

I can hardly believe the adult bird would come right into the house. Amazing. Thanks for sharing.

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[Duer 157099]

12. I know, I was absolutely amazed, too

The dad, though, clearly was not very much in favor of the idea -- he would literally attach himself to the screen of the window, or fly back and forth across the open door during the time when the mom was in the house. He never came in, but was always watching anxiously when the mom did.

I took some photos of the mom in the house, next to the cage with the baby -- but this was in the pre-digital days so I'd have to actually locate the photograph and scan it, to show it. Maybe I will some day.

The mockingbird would not come in the house. Must be a "house finch" thing -- maybe why they're named such? :=)

[baby_bear]

11. Dad came back for the second one three hours later

I heard the little guy cheep, and saw Dad across the driveway in the tree. As I watched, the little guy flew out of the nest/basket and he and Dad flew away to the trees where big brother (or sister) flew off to three hours ago.

Now I have a very empty, quiet nest and plant basket. It's kind of sad but I'm happy that both babies were able to grow up in my fake plant enough to get a good start in the world.

Reminds me of the old Andy Griffith show where Opie accidentally kills Momma bird and then raises the three babies in a cage until they are ready to fly. When he lets them go, he laments that the cage seems so empty but Andy says, "But aren't the trees nice and full."

yep.

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