[Click on photos to enlarge them.]
Very pretty, very empty.
Then, on May 8th, I took this photo of the nest:
As those of you who follow me on Facebook know, the four blue eggs are house finch eggs. However, the brown-speckled egg belonged to a cowbird, a parasitic bird that lays its eggs in other birds' nests and expects someone else to feed its young (often depriving the host bird's chicks sufficient nourishment).
Then, earlier this week, I glimpsed into the nest and discovered that the evil cowbird chick had hatched:
Anticipating that the four house finch eggs were soon to follow, I went back out to the nest with my smart phone just a few minutes ago to be greeted by this sight:
That image of the cowbird nestling waiting to be fed is going to give me nightmares FOR WEEKS.
Will the four baby house finches survive?
Stay tuned....
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7 comments:
OMG! I hope the finches are able to handle the demands of their own offspring and the cowbird chick.
Is there anyway to help Mamma and Poppa Finch?
@VB, it's not mom and pop who need help but their biological kids. And no, we cannot help them. Nature, it's a bitch.
@VB The Prime Directive prohibits Starfleet personnel from interfering with the internal development of alien civilizations :-)
I meant is there anyway to help M/M Finch with support in feeding the babies. Furbo-I do understand the Prime Directive, but this eco-system has been interfered with from a competing civilization-so trying to right/balance the scales here in favour of the indigenous population.
We have a similar situation on our front porch. What was the outcome for this brood?
The nest on our porch looks exactly like yours with the four small blue eggs and the larger speckled egg. It's bugging me.
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