FreeLists / birdky / [birdky] BKY: Re: Happy bird story in Madisonville

[aandm@xxxxxxxx (Ann Morgan)]

    We had an interesting "bird" experience over the week-end.  On Saturday 
morning, we bought some hanging baskets at a local nursery and because we were 
going out of town, placed them in the garage. The next morning, Marian hung 
them on the porch and went somewhere.  Later, when I began watering plants on 
the porch, I kept hearing very loud chirping, but couldn't quite figure where 
it was coming from. It seemed to be on the porch but I  couldn't see anything. 
Thought it might be a young bird on the gutter, but nothing could be seen.  I 
finally took the Boston Fern basket down and the chirping stopped. I examined 
it more closely, pulling the fronds back, and lo and behold, there were three 
very hungry baby birds inside.  I was not sure of their identity, but thought 
they might be English Sparrows. 

    Since I didn't want to attempt raising baby birds, particularly English 
Sparrows,  I called the nursery and asked if I could return the fern in hopes 
that the babies could be restored to their parents. They said yes, if we would 
show them where the fern had been hanging. As soon as we arrived at the 
nursery, we saw and heard House Finches flying about.  Just seconds after we 
hung the fern, the House Finches found it.  There was a family of five or six 
birds(Mom and Dad and the older siblings??)  and they  frantically flew in and 
out of the fern several times before we left. The babies had been without food 
for almost twenty-four hours and I'm sure they were  quite busy the remainder 
of the day trying to make up for lost time. Not only was this a happy ending 
for the birds, it was for us also. The nursery people insisted on not only 
giving us another fern, but giving us another basket for our trouble.  They 
were as happy about the re-unification as we were, and posted a sign saying "Do 
not sell, Birds Nesting".  
                                                                                
   Ann Morgan  aandm@xxxxxxxx  

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