The house sparrows that reside in a birdhouse near the patio had their brood fledge today. Sadly, one of the fledglings slammed right into the garage and broke its neck; we buried his broken body in the compost pile.

But that's why birds have multiple babies; in nature not all will survive and that's just the way it goes.

So...I suppose now that their brood is ready to leave the nest, mom and pop sparrow have to get busy on brood #2 for the year. I saw the female sitting at the top of  my daughter's sliding board. The male wasted no time in mounting her not once but 8 times! I guess he wanted to make sure he got the job done right! It was funny because usually when you see birds mate, the male just hops on top and that's that, but I could swear that twice he was thrusting for a bit on two of the "attempts". Now that's what I call a "peep show"! LOL...BAD joke!

All of this "fledgling" business reminds me of a very intimate and nurturing realtionship I had with a mother bird and her brood.

Years ago, I was living in a condo complex (I was a god-forsaken renter!). I knew that work was being done on the building, near my patio - stucco repairs, etc. I came home from work on a hot late spring day and heard chirping that sounded desparate. The workmen extracated a nest of newly-hatched baby birds and had simply tossed the nest in the bushes. The birds were obviously becoming dehydrated, being out in the sun, and needed food and a safe shelter. I was so upset. I had no idea what species they were, but I quickly found the old nest and was able to fit it into a hanging basket meant for a houseplant. I scooped up the surviving chicks (one had already died) and gingerly placed them, still screaching, into the basket and hung it on my patio, largely to protect them from crows and roaming housecats. That would later prove to be partially problematic.

I got an eyedropper and tried to give each of the birds water. I can't remember if I fed them, and if so what, but by the next day, those birds were clambering over one another trying to jump out of the nest. It sounds awful but most of them died over the next few days from this bizarre seemingly-suicidal behavior. Except one. He was so calm, he never fidgeted, and took his water so nicely, tilting his head back each time he saw me approach the nest. Shortly after hanging the basket and tending to the little one, I heard quite a racket from the small tree about 25 feet from the patio.

There she was: the very distraught mother bird. A European Starling (a so-called "invasive species") which is one of a few species (along with House Sparrows) that is not protected by federal wildlife law, as it is not a native species. (So, technically it was not illegal for the workmen to remove the nest; but the manner of disposal wasn't what I'd call humane, either!)

I watched her as she glared back at me, and I slowly backed into the condo, and watched out the glass door. Within seconds, she flew to the hanging basket and began feeding her bird! But she didn't remain on the nest. We kept up this routine for a few weeks as the little fella' grew bigger, more trusting of me, and began to sprout his feathers. Mother bird would wait in the tree for me to clean out the nest (I began lining it each day with clean shredded newspaper as that little guy sure pooped alot!) and give him his water. I'd re-hang the basket and she'd fly in to feed him. It was such a cool "partnership" that she and I had.

The morning he was to fledge and fly off on his own, he gave me a funny look as I watered him. His feathers were fully grown-in and, to me, he looked gorgeous. When I came home that day he was gone, and I never saw the mother bird again. I guess in his own way he was saying "goodbye and thanks". I was glad that at least one of the four in the brood made it to fledge.

{Sidebar:  I just learned that technically it's illegal to handle baby birds in terms of trying to raise them yourself. But in the circumstances of "my starling", I think I was within legal limts as I did replace the bird in its original nest and the mother did come back to feed it. One other thing to note - birds CAN carry mites, lice, ticks and other parasites, organisms and diseases, so should you ever handle one, be certain to use proper hygenie before and after.}

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On the unrelated matter of crabby hubby - well today he "made up" for being a turd and bought me a new shepherd's crook for my suet feeder, and he finished and installed a new tray feeder that we'll put cut-up fruit in for the catbirds and maybe even attract an oriole.

Though he can be quite a stinker at times, it ebbs and flows. And dummy me, our anniversary is TOMORROW not today. Whoops!