Earth Day 2023 - Arbor Update!

Last evening I made a discovery while back under the arbor.

A tiny pale broken egg was on the ground under the arch. As I was

 looking at it, a noisy squawking House finch flew out above my head!

Within a few minutes I was balancing on a step stool trying to get a

 clear photo of the contents of a rather lovely nest of woven twigs

and grasses. How amazing little birds are when it comes to home

building with just a beak.

Inside there were three eggs, two pale blue-green finch eggs

 and what I'm certain is a Brown-headed cowbird's spotted egg!

Arrow marks the finch nest location

Female Brown-headed cowbird . . . . . . .

. . . . the only parasitic bird found in the Carolinas, she lays all eggs

in host birds' nests, leaving others to raise her young. Some birds 

reject cowbird eggs, but most raise them, even to the exclusion

of their own young at times!

This is a Female House finch, one of many, including males,

I've chased off of my hanging ferns on the porch. As mentioned in

the previous post we do not put out the FOR RENT sign as they

are messy and we like to sit on the porch. The arbor location is

fine, the birds picked a good place, and hopefully I can get more

 photos later - I really would like to see if the egg count increases.

Enjoy the lovely moments of this special day when we are

surrounded by our planet Earth's beauty and Nature's bounty.