Wednesday, September 20, 2006
The Nest
Last year we had a visitor to our apartments. There are six in the block, on three floors, divided by a central stairwell. Ours is at the top with a small landing leading to the stairs. In common with most suburbs all around the world, St Kilda has its fair share of pigeons, which at a certain time of the year start looking for suitable nesting sites. There must have been a shortage last year as a hen made a nest on the doormat opposite our front door and proceeded to lay two snow white eggs in a little pile of sticks that she had assiduously put together.
I'm pretty sure it was her first attempt at raising a family and because there were plenty of comings and goings, she didn't sit the eggs as well as she might and they failed to hatch. Well, we may have disturbed her, but we must also have been good hosts for she has returned again this year, rebuilt her nest and layed two more eggs, which M has been watching with growing curiosity.
The other night we returned home and we saw the pigeon was on the nest, but one of the eggs had rolled out. As we approached, the bird flew away and we could see that the egg hadn't rolled at all, there was only a half egg and it was empty! There on the nest were two fluffy lumps contentedly asleep. We are surrogate grandparents!
I'm pretty sure it was her first attempt at raising a family and because there were plenty of comings and goings, she didn't sit the eggs as well as she might and they failed to hatch. Well, we may have disturbed her, but we must also have been good hosts for she has returned again this year, rebuilt her nest and layed two more eggs, which M has been watching with growing curiosity.
The other night we returned home and we saw the pigeon was on the nest, but one of the eggs had rolled out. As we approached, the bird flew away and we could see that the egg hadn't rolled at all, there was only a half egg and it was empty! There on the nest were two fluffy lumps contentedly asleep. We are surrogate grandparents!
7 Comments:
I'm glad that the babies have hatched and are nice and healthy, it should be great fun watching them grow up and eventually leave the roost :)
Wow!!
I've heard that something really tasty is pie made with ... never mind.
Hi ellie, pigeons are good fun to watch. I had some as a boy, but unfortunately the coop was not too far from the clothes line and one day when I was out, mum gave the whole flock away.
Hi laurie, you summed that up pretty well, new life is always amazing.
Hi kitchen hand, get out of my head!
Hi paz, there not big enough yet! Just kidding, wouldn't be game to try that one.
Awwww.... Too cute. When I was little we had wagtails that nested every year in a creeper near an upstairs window. One year my dad took the creeper dowm but they still cam round at nesting time looking confusedly around for their home. So my dad wired up a small pasket to the window frame and they nested quite happily in that for a number of years, safe from predators and seemingly unconcerned by our scrutiny through the window.
Hi jeanne, aren't wagtails just the most wonderful bird. It's awesome watching them hunting for insects, their arial manouveres are amazing. Lucky you to be able to watch the nesting so close.
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