Good luck! I have been enjoying reading this! You make such a great grandbirdie momma! You are so caring Twink. Keep us posted.

I have a nest in my hanging plant on my porch with 4 house finch eggs. I have been watching it daily. I am so excited to see them hatch!

A
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that will be too much fun Girlie Girl! I hope you're handier with a camera than I am. We want pics!

I am good a taking pics but then they are like that commercial...they just stay on the camera. I need to get them downloaded and printed. I will get some pics when I can. I have some of the eggs right now. I will try to post them tomorrow. That is my mission....download pics tonight! That is if 12yo son lets me on the computer. lol

mrsd I love watching! I tiptoe up onto the porch now so momma doesn't get frightened. I make sure the puppy doesn't make too much noise in the house, if so I shut the front door. The nest is right outside the front door. I think I am hooked!

What amazed me was there were 2 eggs the first day, 3 eggs 2 days later then 4 eggs 2 days after that! Cool!

my son used to come up North with me and we'd stay for 3 mons. (I can't really handle the island alone--or the boat).

So one late June, we were lying in the twin beds and talking/reading one afternoon. The beds are perpendicular and my head faced his along the wall, and I could see out his window. There was this motion flitting around up in the trees there.

I put on my glasses, and noticed it was a hummingbird. So we got excited, and got the binos, and went out there. Turns out
she made a nest in the cedar...it was about15-20ft up on a curving branch hanging from the bottom of the tree.
We had several feeders at the time for many years and I guess she decided to nest by us.

We watched this whole thing, but of course could not see the eggs. I didn't have a zoom digital camera like I do now, back then. We were still doing college, and were not spending money on ourselves.

The mother was very alert, and chased the little red squirrels anytime they used that tree. Once the eggs hatched, we could see two chicks sitting in it with their beaks held high, like swords in the air! LOL While the mother would sit on the eggs and let us watch, she would not feed or come to the nest if we were outside watching once the eggs hatched. She went to higher branches and watched US. The babes developed quickly, and started coming to our feeders.

The next season the nest remained unused. So my husband climbed up there with a pole pruner and cut it down for me to have. I still have the little tiny thing on display in the cabin.

Even tho we couldn't see much, it was still very exciting to me.
I just LOVE hummers. I have now held one in my hand (they weigh as much as a penny) and felt its little heart beating, and fed it off my finger. Touched by a hummingbird tongue...a once in a lifetime event! Their little feet are sooo tiny with little itty bitty claws on the end of the toes!

So I know how you feel... get those pictures...you'll treasure them forever!

LOLOLOL! You're funny.

Oh my gosh, Twink, what fun reading about it and I am SO glad the little thing is doing okay today. I can just imagine it all so well. Right now my 2 wren houses on my porch have baby wrens in them. The chorus of chirping is absolutely hilarious sometimes!

Course, when they hear my voice they pipe way down. When I was walking onto the porch from work last night, both houses had baby birds heads sticking out....CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP CHIRP and on and on and on, LOL. So CUTE!

I have a funny wren story.

I have a little stained glass holder with a nest in it at my back door. This is inside a screened porch (an old porch).
Well on Xmas eve my husband returned from a business trip.
He came in that back way, and noticed movement as he opened the door. Turns out two wrens were roosting in that spot (probably out of the cold wind and some warmth from the house). He called me out, and upset them, and as I opened the door, they flew into the HOUSE...This was unsettling to say the least. We didn't know what to do. It was dark out.
So we opened the back door wide, and sort of waved our arms to scoot them in that direction and they flew back out finally after about 15 minutes of hysteria! Then we found out how they got in... there was a little rip in one screen near the top.
Clever little devils... they must do this alot. Hang with humans. That is why they are called house wrens.

And boy do they have big chirps for such a little bird.
Our cat caught a newly fledged one once and brought in and I rescued it...
what a racket! And the FEET... she glommed onto my hand with IRON CLAWS.... GAD... I have total respect for these little guys!

Chirp chirp!

Maxie is doing just fine! It seems she is getting more demanding by the minute!

I left her with a "bird-sitter" while I went and did my errands today. Well, she left our feathered friend all alone, and when she returned her weiner dog had eaten the can of dog food! Just glad he didn't eat little Maxie!
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I did stop and get an eye-dropper for water. But not so sure I want to mix the gruel recommended by this website on how to care for baby birds:

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"SWIFT, SWALLOW, VIREO, WARBLER, KINGLET, GNATCATCHER, WREN--(normal diet insects of flying type). Feed straight P/D dog food mixed with hardboiled egg yolk, dried flies, crushed adult mealworms and pupae (remove heads). Thin to feedable consistency. Supplement with fresh flies, spiders. (Oh my!!!)
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Let's just see who can catch me removing pupae heads for this little birdie! I don't think so!!!

Now I'm confused (okay, I live in the State of Confusion). But it says that meat-eaters need grain mixed in with their meat. Huh?
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"COMPLETE DIETS
The majority of birds can be classified in two groups: meat eaters and seed eaters. Basic diets for these are listed below with suggestions for special foods for different species of birds. The sooner you identify the bird, the sooner you can provide the best diet. The basic foods mentioned in these diets can be classified into two groups:

MEAT:
* P/D dogfood (canned and available from most veterinarians),
* dry puppy kibbles (have to be soaked in water),
* boiled chicken, strained beef baby food,
* hard boiled chicken egg yolk,
* live insects such as flies and mealworms.

GRAIN:
* high protein dry baby cereal ,
* wheat germ,
* corn or oat meal that has been powdered down in a blender.

MEAT and GRAIN proportions are generally:

INSECT EATER BIRDS -- 1 part MEAT to 2 parts GRAIN

SEED EATER BIRDS -- 1 part MEAT to 4 parts GRAIN

When MEAT is asked for in the diet, you can pick any MEAT from the MEAT group. You can then add in, the right proportions , any GRAIN from the GRAIN group. For example, a seed-eater diet could be 1 part P/D dogfood and 5 parts wheat germ. It is suggested that you can vary this diet as much as possible as long as you stay within the proper framework. For example the next time you mix up a batch of formula for your seed eater bird, you might use 1 part boiled chicken and 5 parts high protein baby cereal. Variety is the spice of life, and also keeps young birds healthy."

That is really cool.... watching nests is very very interesting.
Little miracles really. And it is hard to realize that birds are related to dinosaurs!
That is why I get so involved in the Eagle cams, watching the complex behaviors of the parents and chicks.