Enough people have asked that I figure it's time to bite the bullet and give you the skinny on Mr. and Mrs. Bird.
REMEMBER them?
Oh Friends.
Mrs. Bird bailed! She left her babies and her home and she's gone, gone, gone.
At first I was in denial. "She'll be back. She probably just needed a little break. She does that sometimes."
Then I was ashamed of her. "I would never leave MY babies. How could she do such an irresponsible and heartless thing? And she calls herself a MOTHER!"
But in the end I realized that I was judging something that I didn't fully understand. "Maybe she gave it her best shot but the time had come for them to hatch... and they just didn't? ... and so she knew there was no point in staying and she had to pick up the pieces of her life and move on? ... Or maybe she was more afraid of us than we knew?"
I'm not sure what happened, but we are giving Mr. and Mrs. Bird the benefit of the doubt on this matter.
When we broke the news to the boys that 'momma's not coming back,' Jack wanted to keep the eggs permanently on his special shelf. Corey let him hold them in his hands for a few seconds before he took care of the nest :( and before I made him come inside to wash and sanitize his hands. That's about the best we could do.
Mr. and Mrs. Bird still hold a special place in our hearts, and we hope they will come and visit the homes we made with them in mind.
What a bummer ending to our story huh?!?
REMEMBER them?
Oh Friends.
Mrs. Bird bailed! She left her babies and her home and she's gone, gone, gone.
At first I was in denial. "She'll be back. She probably just needed a little break. She does that sometimes."
Then I was ashamed of her. "I would never leave MY babies. How could she do such an irresponsible and heartless thing? And she calls herself a MOTHER!"
But in the end I realized that I was judging something that I didn't fully understand. "Maybe she gave it her best shot but the time had come for them to hatch... and they just didn't? ... and so she knew there was no point in staying and she had to pick up the pieces of her life and move on? ... Or maybe she was more afraid of us than we knew?"
I'm not sure what happened, but we are giving Mr. and Mrs. Bird the benefit of the doubt on this matter.
When we broke the news to the boys that 'momma's not coming back,' Jack wanted to keep the eggs permanently on his special shelf. Corey let him hold them in his hands for a few seconds before he took care of the nest :( and before I made him come inside to wash and sanitize his hands. That's about the best we could do.
Mr. and Mrs. Bird still hold a special place in our hearts, and we hope they will come and visit the homes we made with them in mind.
What a bummer ending to our story huh?!?
4 comments:
This is why I hate birds! I didn't want to be a party pooper before, but when I was a kid there was a birds nest above our back door and several baby birds that fell out of it who were just starting feathers and were basically dead meat. I mean we tried to keep them alive, getting them chopped up worms and such. But they always died! Broke my heart and grossed me out at the same time. Nope, not a bird lover. I like hearing birdsong and seeing birds in trees, but I will never keep a bird as a pet. Or a backyard sort of pet either. Best of luck to your family in healing from this experience. :-P
Maybe she got eaten by a cat....being a bird is hard. I used to say to my kids. Remember lion king, circle of life. Now they've seen so many animal documenteries they just know. Which actually still makes me sad. I'm a biologist by trade but the truth is biology stinks....it will break your heart all the time!!!!
Interesting. When I read the title of your post, I thought there would be death and despair...death of any babies is despair. Sad to hear the ending, but now that I think about it, I think Catherine may have told me this already. Glad your boys took it so well!
We have a swallow pair on our deck post right now we will let you know how it fairs.
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