Nest Building 101

Rylie and I were just sitting at the kitchen table. She was eating breakfast and watching the birds in the backyard. We have lots of fat robins! The birds were picking up bits of grasses and string in the yard to build a nest. Suddenly Rylie found where the nest was being built and we've been watching the bird work very hard. This is one bird who can stick to a task! We had a long piece of worn out tarp, looked more like a string hanging off the tarp, that was under the sand in the sandbox. The birds had been picking at it for a long time so the kids cut the piece off and left it there. I meant to cut it into smaller pieces, but before I could get out to do it the birds got ahold of it. It's stuck on a tree branch just under the nest right now. The bird is working hard to pull it free, but so far no luck.

It also had some pieces of what looked like dryer sheet. It took one up to the nest and the sheet promptly blew away. Back down to the ground went the bird for the piece of sheet. Back up to the nest. This time it looked like the smart robin sat on the piece while tucking it in!

We just put out some dryer lint and Rylie got a red ribbon from an old present and a kleenex. She's back at the window watching to see if our contributions meet the birds approval! I hear her sharing words of encouragement to the bird right now ;-)

Looks like we'll have some baby robins to watch too. It's that time of year when we have to really start watching the yard for baby birds. Unfortunately, Toby, our basset, enjoys "playing" with the babies as they are learning to fly. He never has killed one, but he's been in dire situations with the parent birds swooping down on him. Once I was pretty scared for him and ran out to try to help... from now on he's on his own! I'm not taking on a mad mother bird again!

We also are enjoying finding the new plants that are emerging and watching our new Weeping Cherry tree come into full bloom. This weekend is yard work time - hopefully by the end of it we'll have sod in the backyard covering all the bare spots and less dirt tracked in by the dogs! At least the kids take their shoes off in the laundry room, if only the dogs could remove something too! LOL! Ah, gotta love spring in Kansas!