Natural World

In the spring of 2009, I noticed that wrens had used my hanging spider plant to build a nest. The baby birds hatched in early June. By mid- to late - June the babies began to show signs of leaving the nest, and at the same time, I noticed sparrows attacking the nest! I spent three days doing everything I could think of to keep those birds away from "my" babies. One day, we noticed one of the parents dead on the patio (flew into the rotating ceiling fan), and that left just one other parent to feed the young birds. (The fans were not turned back on until the birds were all gone.) Eventually another wren showed up to help. When the sparrows attacked, the parent wrens would scream, & I would go out to shoo the attackers off. The wrens were never frightened of me; I think they knew I was trying to help!

I took these pictures the very day that the babies decided to leave the nest. I put a pallet down on the concrete so they wouldn't drop from the basket onto the hard surface (was afraid to move the hanging basket from it's perch; guess I probably could've done that). Those tiny things inched their way down the tendrils of the plant and enthusiatically hopped to the pallet I'd made. They were so cute! They looked like little brown balls hopiing around! I was completely riveted by their activity and watched them for about 3 or 4 hours. A parent wren guided them around the back of our house, under the fence to the side of the house. They rested awhile in the front flower beds, but eventually hopped all the way across our front lawn, across the street (!!!), into a neighbor's yard and into their flower bed!! By 7:00 pm I accepted the fact that they had really left the nest and peeked through my neighbor's shrubs one last time to wish them well. There was, however, one unfortunate baby who was much smaller and weaker than the rest. Poor thing huddled under a shrub in my flower bed and never left. Just too weak to survive.

Many times through the years house finches (I think a form of sparrow) have nested in that plant and on our front porch on top of the column, but I've never witnessed the journey of their young leaving the nest.Some may think it silly, but for me witnessing this event was just incredibly fascinating, and it reminded me that there is an "invisible" world all around us that too many of us are too busy to notice. God is good!!