Cheep, Cheep...

Hey... Guess what?!

THE BABIES ARE HERE!

My bird babies, that is. Read post below for the intro. But for now... Oh, how totally amazing are baby birds, anyway? Allow me to answer. Amazing. Really amazing.

Today I stopped by the shelves to check on my growing family, and Mama B was not to be seen. J was already outdoors so, when he saw me looking, he said, "I think she's under your car." (And he acts like he doesn't care! He tracks them! They're his bird family, too!)

I noticed in the dark, crumpled-leafy space where the mother's head ususally goes, I could see movement of a different sort. The mama head moves quickly, dartingly, side to side. Today, I saw a slow, arching kind of move. Intriguing....

I leaned in, slowly.

And I was rewarded with two perfect, pointed beak shapes, one triangle up and one triangle down, with a tiny pink tongue in between. A hungry baby bird, swaying across the opening of his nest.

We got babies, folks! Babies!

Later, I brought Miles over. I calmly told Mama B. (who had assumed the position) that I wouldn't touch her children, that I only wanted to see. And like a miracle from Above (no one dispute me here; it's Lent and I'm going with the miraculous), she flew away without a peep. We both leaned in (I had to move the plastic sack a little, as it becomes a lined drape over the nursery window) and found two neat rows of itty, bitty, little... bumps. Round pink bumps, side by side -- maybe four, maybe six. (Hard to tell without sticking my nose further in...)

I figured out the bumps were the tops of the bird heads, as the babies were sleeping with beaks tucked downward. I said to Miles, "They look.... they look..." and I really couldn't think what next. Luckily, M is a outdoorsy lad well prepared to appreciate the wonders of the natural world, and so he finished my thought: "They look like they're not even born yet, huh, Mom?"

And he's right. These little tiny creatures, so fresh from formation, are amazingly unlike what they'll become soon enough. The one I saw most clearly has some fuzz on front and a good lookin' gullet, but no feathers to speak of. Oh, and there's one unopen egg just in front of the thatch of babies (maybe the one that got cold on my driveway?). But what bounty, to be a tiny brown bird who once had an upturned nest and no hatchable eggs, and to have arrived at this place of promise with a doting human family and a sleeping clutch of brand-new babies.

I'm so proud of our crazy, fussy bird for pulling this off! And so thankful I got to see.

I will try to take & post pictures. I imagine I can snap Mom without much disruption, but the babies might have to wait until they're older. ...Say when Auntie Ging takes them inside for a little test flight down the length of the great room. :)