| happy2bme |
01-01-2009 12:35 PM |
Unfortunately, for those of us who would save the world and everything in it, nature indeed is survival of the fittest.
Last year we had a pair of wrens who decided to make a nest in a mostly empty Coca Cola 12 pack box on the top shelf of a bakers rack on our porch. We watched in fascination as they carefully constructed a nest, laid eggs and hatched 3 babies. The first clutch was adorable puff balls that we found one day climbing out of the box to a precarious drop below but they flittered a bit and clung to the bricks before they got their strength and flew off. We were just as excited when a few weeks later, the same pair we presume decided once again to nest in the bakers rack. We set out another empty box and they did their business. This time around the babies were quite active and kept trying to jump out of the box much sooner than the last set. This time there were 4 babies. Twice they crept out, clearly weren't strong enough to fly yet and my husband donned garden gloves and set them back in the box only to find them creeping out again. It was clear their instincts told them to get out and even the parents were clinging to a nearby tree calling them out. All 4 jumped out but only 1 made it to the tree. 1 hit the ground but was too weak to move very far. 1 fell but crawled under the bakers rack for protection and one clung to the bricks with the most frantic peeping for it's momma that tore my heart. The parents did everything they could to encourage the one on the bricks to come to the tree and completely ignored the other 2. They fed the one on the tree but would not feed the one on the bricks. We watched this for a couple of hours and finally my husband caught the one under the bakers rack and put it in the bushes at the base of the tree where it promptly went and hid under a branch for cover. He also relocated the one on the bricks but it could not cling to the tree. The first baby died within an hour of coming out of the box. We watched in great sadness as the parents would only feed that one that was in the tree and ignored the other 2 obviously frantic and hungry birds that were nearby. My husband said it's just nature's way that the parents will put their energies into those that seem like they will make it. Even then they don't hang around the babies for too long. In the end, the only bird that made it was the one on the tree. After that we decided it was just too hard to go through again, so we don't encourage nesting on the rack anymore.
So tell your husband not to have hard feelings for your pair - they are doing what instinct tells them, not human nature.
|
