As Steve Weston recently pointed out, there is considerable baby bird activity about. Recently, the neighborhood kids rang my doorbell and excitedly told me about baby birds down the street. I followed them down to my neighbor’s mailbox and, sure enough, there were baby birds in the slot below the mailbox where the daily paper is supposed to go. As they were attempting to describe the parent birds to me, a Great-crested Flycatcher flew to a nearby lamppost with a big juicy caterpillar in its beak and watched us intently. “There is mama” I said. There were five recently hatched chicks in the slot. I told the kids we needed to back off and let mama feed the babies. We did and after warily checking the area, she did just that. After watching the parent bird come and go for a few minutes, we left.
About an hour later, the kids were describing the baby birds to another neighbor. We went down to check out the situation. One baby bird was on the ground so we picked it up. Before we placed it back in the nest, I allowed the kids to hold the baby bird briefly. Their reaction was priceless, their concern evident. The baby bird immediately calmed down nestled in the warm palm of a child gently holding it. It no longer struggled, it did not peep or cry out in distress. We placed the baby bird back in the nest and retreated. The kids were obviously torn between their curiosity and my coaching the need for keeping a safe distance. Today, they came and asked me if it was OK to check on the birds. I again stressed the need for allowing the parent to bring food and the need to minimize drawing attention to the location because of predators. We have very hungry Jays, Crows, Owls, and Hawks in the neighborhood – not to mention Raccoons, foxes, and coyotes. The kids have been very respectful ever since. Yesterday, the kids came to my house and helped me design a block to place in the mailbox slot. The block will, hopefully, prevent the baby birds from crawling out of the nest onto the ground while allowing the parents to enter. They helped me secure the block in the slot and waited with me to ensure that mama bird was able to safely enter. So far – so good. We are still thinking about ways to secure the nest from predators. The location seems pretty vulnerable but we do not yet have a good solution. If anyone has a suggestion, please forward it to me. In the meantime, it has been a wonderful opportunity to teach a bunch of kids about nature, the birds, and now everyone knows what a Great-crested Flycatcher is. Only a week or so ago, these kids and a few other neighborhood kids helped a newly hatched family of baby Mallards navigate the street and climb the curb to safely arrive at the pond. There was great excitement in the neighborhood that day, too. Sid Stivland Plymouth, MN ---- Join or Leave mou-net: http://lists.umn.edu/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=mou-net Archives: http://lists.umn.edu/archives/mou-net.html
