Various messes

I haven't provided any updated information about our hummingbird friend, because the news I had to share wasn't very good. After noticing that momma hummingbird wasn't coming around anymore, I went outside to investigate. Looking closely on the ground beneath the hummingbird nest I saw tiny bits of egg shell. It seems that the hummingbird eggs fell from their nest - or were helped down from their nest.

As I mentioned before, a jay bird had been near the hummingbird's nest and this had made mommy bird upset. Checking data on the scrub jay in the National Audubon Society Field Guide to Birds I read, "...frequently noisy and conspicuous. Many condemn it as a nest robber..." I suspect Humpty Dumpty was pushed.

As an aside, the same day I found the broken hummingbird eggs I also decided to begin watching season one of The Sopranos (yes, I am a little behind the rest of the country). I found it ironic that I was watching Tony Soprano becoming terribly upset at the loss of a family of ducks who left his yard on the same day I was feeling sad about the loss of a pair of hummingbird eggs.

Yesterday I found a dove's nest in a tree in the front yard. My advice to the dove is to look out for jay birds.

Other than the bird chronicles, things are about the same here. I have been trying to get the girls to do things that don't involve staring at electronic screens, but it seems everything they choose to do is terribly messy. Amelia and Diana went through two packets of paint (that were supposed to last through at least three painting sessions) in a day. And they get through bubble-blowing solution suprisingly fast, too. The messes have been horrible, and I can see why some parents just give up and let their kids spend their days in front of the television.

Lisa