Lost Arts studio

A lot of the fiber arts I enjoy are things like tatting, netmaking, chair caning, and even weaving, where people will come up to me when I demonstrate and solemnly tell me, "That's a lost art."

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Location: SW Outer Nowhere, Michigan, United States

On the Internet, nobody knows you're a chicken. (With apologies to Peter Steiner.)



21 April 2010

Boy, is my Face Red

Otherwise known as "birdwatcher fail".

In 2008, we had a couple of pairs of phoebes try to build mud nests over our door, and later, over the window of our bedroom.

I fended them off by stapling paper over the 1-inch ledges, but I also found some plans and built a phoebe nesting platform, which I mounted on the north side of the house.

The way these things seem to work is that if I build it, they go away and never come back. I saw and heard phoebes last year, but nary a one tried to build a nest on the platform.

This year, overnight it seemed, a robin's nest appeared on the platform. Well, robins are quieter than phoebes, at least. But I never saw a bird on or near the nest.

Day after day I watched: no bird, nothing on or in or near the nest.

Finally, after almost a week, I decided to clear the platform. I thought maybe a cat or a hawk or something had gotten the robin that built it, and if the platform was bare another bird might use it.

Um.

This morning I looked out there automatically and there was a robin. Yes! Poor robin, sitting on the bare platform, fluffed up like a broody hen.

I cannot tell you how bad I felt. Bad, bad birdwatcher!

Could I repair my error?

I found the nest. I stood up on a bucket and felt three warm robin eggs in the bare wooden nesting platform. Okay, eggs in nest, nest on platform.

Then I waited.

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16 Comments:

Blogger Marguerite said...

That's some story.

Mom Robin looks totally relaxed in her reconstructed nest.

Glad you felt the eggs before plopping the nest on top of them.

7:52 PM  
Blogger  Lona said...

Ohmyword! Hope it all turns out okay...

7:57 PM  
Blogger Rose Red said...

Hurrah! I call that birdwatcher success!

9:36 PM  
Blogger Donna Lee said...

Yay! You saved the babies. What a strange story. I wonder where Mom was all that time. Around here, I would worry that the hawks had gotten her.

8:36 AM  
Blogger HobbygÃ¥sa said...

Poor little thing, the house gone in only a few minutes :-) Hope everything went ok, and that there will be little Robin-babies soon.

8:47 AM  
Blogger Becky Dempsey said...

We kept having a robin try to build a nest on the window ledge outside our bathroom (which would have been cool) but it kept flying away whenever someone would come into the bathroom (Which around here is often!) Glad that you got the nest back in time!

9:22 AM  
Blogger roxie said...

Good save! Next year you now know to wait two days longer than you thought you should.

9:42 AM  
Blogger Geek Knitter said...

Oh, poor birdie! She must have been confused though.

Nest is there... nest is not there... nest is there again.

What the heck was in those worms?

1:09 PM  
Blogger Barbara said...

Yay! Nice save. I'm talking myself blue trying to get Durwood to build me more birdhouses. Maybe I can make some myself. I'm courting wrens and chickadees this year.

verification word: restival=when you spend the weekend on the couch napping

3:02 PM  
Blogger ephelba said...

Yeah, I second the "Good save"!

and I got "aterat"

11:24 PM  
Blogger Olivia said...

heart in mouth story! well done.

12:00 AM  
Blogger Knitting Linguist said...

Oh, whew! What a relief. I'm SO glad it turned out all right :)

12:07 PM  
Blogger catsmum said...

I'm glad those little eggs were still warm and will await further birdie developments

1:41 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow birds are stupid. "I built a nest therefore there must be a nest here therefore I will lay eggs."

12:06 PM  
Blogger Gr8lakesgrrl said...

Whew, that was close! I second Geek Knitter, poor thing must be terribly confused by now!

ot: how odd that someone took the trouble to spam you in Chinese!

8:43 PM  
Blogger Alwen said...

Chinese comment spam, boy, I'm really hitting the big time now!

(I've deleted it.)

10:13 PM  

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