I talked before about the little sparrows or wrens or whatever they are that have made our deck into their "home sweet home". They are so darn cute, but they poop everywhere and they narrowly miss your head when you are on the deck as they swoop in and out of their little nests.
This year they put out to the word to every one of their aunts, uncles and cousins....and now they all live on our deck in a lovely apartment complex! Sometimes you look up and there are all of these little heads peeking out in between every roof slat. It's a commune!Irv puts a plastic tarp on top of the deck every year. It allows him to still sit on the deck if there is a light rain and it allows me to sit on the deck when the sun is shining. There use to be one little nest in one little corner of the tarp.....well, since they put the word out....there are many nests in many parts of the tarp.
We have to take the tarp down in the late fall so that the snow doesn't gather on it and put a lot of weight on the supports for the slatted roof that is over the deck. In the past, Irv has cut around where the little birds live and secured the tarp with a wooden roof to keep the little guys dry and happy all winter. Well, this year there are so many of them that we aren't sure what to do.
Irv said he is just going to pull it all down and they will have to hurry up and build a new nest somewhere else before winter. I don't think he will do that, but we aren't sure what we are going to do.
The little guys should have just kept quiet and enjoyed their comfy "digs". Now they might all end up homeless!
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8 comments:
Ack what a dilemma. I feed the birds on the end of my deck and really now that I've started, I feel that I have to keep it up, especially through our dreadful winters.I have come to recognize some of the same birds feeding regularly. I think life is tougher for them than it used to be,less insects, plants, habitat etc.
Since Irv is so handy at this sort of thing maybe he could build an alternative home for the birds..and you've got great pillows to make it comfy!
HAHA! You are so funny. We actually hung a little bird house right up in the corner where they first moved in....not interested in it at all. They like to snuggle down in the corner of the darn tarp. If I know Irv, he will put a nice little roof wherever he sees a nest and then next year we will have to add on to the deck to make more room!!!
If it were me I would probably roof over the entire area..I have a neon sign on my forehead that says " Sucker Here"...And for goodness sake don't let them put up the FREE LODGINGS Sign up again this year...Before you know it you will have to build another deck just for you and Hubby.. :)
just so you don't feel too bad....those are house sparrows, also called English sparrows, that readily kill other birds, especially babies in nests. they are an invasive species in this country and encouraging their safekeeping is not good for other birds in your area.
i know, they are cute and they are living and i have the same dilemma every winter about feeding the birds because the house sparrows take over the feeders. since i work as a naturalist and am very aware of the extensive damage they are doing to our native songbird population i don't feed any birds any more....so that i am not encouraging them.
i don't tell you this to make you feel guilty, just to let you know a bit more about these guys...;-)
love ya and good luck! ;-)
Oh Mary....thank you so much for the information. I do love all of the little birds that hang out in our yard, but you are actually right...we didn't have as many gold finches and cardinals this year as we have in the past. I wonder if our cute little house guests chased them all away.
I'll have to tell Irv. He'll say, "Throw them out in the street! Every last one of them!"
:)
Kathy, I can tell you and Irv have such kind hearts! If not, you would just kick the birds to the curb and not think a thing about it!
Good luck with your dilemma.
Poor little fellas! Good luck figuring it out!
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