the misseldines

Monday 11:00 a.m. : I am outside the house trying to start the old weed whacker and see movement out of the corner of my eye. About a foot away from me lying in the grass is a baby bird. Doesn't even have feathers yet. I scream! I don't know why I screamed, but I was startled. I go running for my sister's house. She knows about birds and she will know what to do. I tell her it's an emergency and she comes running too. We have to save the baby bird!

I get a ladder since the nest it fell out of is way high up in the tree. No luck. The ladder is too short. Bummer. We look around and see another nest. We can reach that nest. We bring the ladder over and my sister bravely climbs up and drops the baby bird inside.
Monday 2:00 p.m. : I am still trying to start the weed whacker and see movement out of the corner of my eye. There in the grass are TWO baby birds. No feathers on either one. I scream! Why do I keep doing that? I run for my sister's house. We briskly walk over and she scoops them up and brings them to the other nest. The ladder is still there since I wanted to be able to climb up and check on our baby bird. She bravely climbs up the ladder and I hand her one baby bird at a time as she dumps them in the nest.

"That was strange" we say to one another. We look up into the tree at the nest we cannot reach. There is a hole in the middle of it about the size of my fist. I see the tail end of one more baby bird. I say to my sister how "I sure hope the last baby bird stays in the nest".

I watch the new baby bird's nest all afternoon and am pleased to see that the mommy and daddy birds are feeding all the babies.

The thought crosses my mind that they might not be the same type of birds. How funny that would be.

Tuesday 1:00 p.m. : I look up at the nest we cannot reach and am pleased to see the tail of the last baby bird. I am glad it is still in there.

Tuesday 7:00 p.m. : I am outside sanding the playground getting ready to stain the old wood, when I see movement out of the corner of my eye. I look over and there is the last baby bird in the grass. I didn't scream. I said "oh no". I walk over and get my sister. She says "I'll be there in about ten minutes". She comes over and picks up the bird and climbs up the ladder and dumps it in the nest.

"How weird" we say to each other. At least there are no more babies left to fall out of that nest.

Tuesday 9:00 p.m. : Cleaning up the sander and power cords, I am walking by the tree when I see a nest there on the ground. It is the said nest of the babies old home. It has a great big hole in the bottom. I guess it was bound to come down. But how strange is that. Don't birds normally mud the nests to the branch so they are sturdy and won't move? This mommy bird didn't know how to build a very good nest!

I decide to climb up the ladder to check on the babies. I bring my camera. It is the first time I have climbed the ladder to look at the birds. I climb to the top and burst out laughing.

This is what I see.
Wait. You need a closer picture you say?