Flown the Coop

Spring is my favorite time on the farm for so many obvious reasons - the seeds germinating, the hopeful plans made for a more organized season, tilling the land with the tractor, transplants landing in the field, even harvesting my early crops in May, like radishes, lettuce, spinach and chard. While all of my best laid plans are swirling around me, mostly under my control, an entirely separate event is happening, also all around me...the birds and their new offspring that have entered the world.

Maybe I haven't been the same since reading Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. On the farm, we have sparrows, finches, red-winged blackbirds, bluebirds, the screeching killdeer, and the occasional hawk soaring overhead. Many of our neighbors have erected bluebird houses in an effort to encourage their population. It seems to be working, as I saw my first male this week.

Often, the birds make their way into one of the greenhouses through an open door or a tear in the plastic. They seek a warm and protective place to build their nests and rear their young. We find nests every year in the flowering hanging baskets and sometimes in the back of the heaters (<--pic.) This spring, I've had my eye on a small nest in the back of the heater in greenhouse five. What was an egg a few weeks ago became a small, featherless, breathing lump, and then a tiny, scared bird (sparrow or finch) with a few random feathers - one sticking up behind his head, a couple on his chest, and a few on his wings. All day yesterday, I kept checking his nest. His mother was never around during the day - probably out foraging for food. I knew she was returning to the nest as evidenced by the pile of crap (literally) piling up around the edge of the nest (see 2nd pic.) When I would peek in, his eyes would always meet mine and then he would dart his head around as if to say: "Where's Mom? What do I do? Human! Human!" On my third check yesterday...sadness and elation. He had flown the coop! He was gone, had made his first flight. And I missed it. Kevin, who was working in the greenhouse at the time, said he saw the bird come out. He flew so low and awkwardly that he almost flew right into Kevin.

So today, guess what I am doing at the farm? Hunting for another nest to spy on for the next few weeks. Maybe it's the city girl in me that seeks this fascination with the metamorphosis of nature. Or maybe I am just a simpleton? Ha!