In Fall of 2021 I posted about the birdhouse my father built for my kids.
It was during the time my two oldest were really into bird watching and the science curriculum we were doing was mainly about birds.
Well we finally got to experience having a family move in! These House Sparrows are so fun to watch. It was interesting watching the mother and father switch off with feeding their young.
My father placed the house right next to our schoolroom window. It’s close enough to see the action but far enough where we won’t startle or disturb them. All the pictures in this post had to be taken from inside through the window (which is why they are not my clearest shots).
Birds definitely learn early on to be careful and cautious when they see a human. Several times I tried to step outside the back door, which is about 10 feet from the birdhouse, to try to grab some clearer shots. Each time the young birds quickly stuck their heads back in.
I noticed I was preventing their parents from feeding them so I had to settle for these photos from inside the house in order not to mess up their mealtime.
As you can see in the cover photo father bird was on the job. It almost looked like a contest of who could open their beaks the widest lol.
In this next photo as the babies were still chirping away in the background, I noticed daddy bird was about to take off. In this moment I wondered what his thoughts were. Was he irritated, happy to be a parent or wondering where the mother was because it was her turn to take over? 😆
A little while after the dad had left the two birds were still calling out to him for more. These babies keep at it until their parents come to the rescue to fill up their bellies with more goodies. The begging chirping gets pretty intense.
After watching the birds for awhile my kiddos and I began to see a time pattern. It seems no matter how loud they chirped the parents would only feed them about every 20 minutes or so…never longer than 30 minutes. When it got closer to 20 minutes of waiting time the youngsters had to take a bit of a rest in between 🥰🤗…
As time went on we started noticing other beaks sticking out from the house. There were a total of 4 young birds waiting to get strong enough to take flight and explore the world.
We thought this was a funny sight. When mama bird finally landed we saw the food in her mouth and the anxious birdies with their beaks opened and ready. We noticed that each time the parents landed they would take a moment to peep out the scene to make sure no intruders were near.
You can imagine the babies are chirping
Come on Mama!! What ya waiting for?! 😄
Once mama bird fed them her share she took off gracefully. This time instead of just 2 birds keeping watch, there were 3…
As a mother this delights me so much. With most animal species you see the mother always guarding and protecting her young. She does not play when it comes to her babies and will attack if she has to.
I can relate to this when it comes to my babies. I am ready to give my life if it means keeping my children safe. I’m always vigilant and careful when we’re out and about making sure I keep them close. This mama bear will also attack and fight if I had to. 💪🏽🤨
The other part of this is knowing what it feels like to work and be exhausted to make sure our babies have what they need. Even though I am passed the weaning stage with all five of mine, I will never forget those sleepless nights of nursing and hearing my babies crying and calling out to be held and fed.
Even though those times were challenging they will always be my most precious and tender moments that I had with my children as their mom. ☺️
Thank you to @nelinoeva for this SMaP (Show Me a Photo) Contest which highlights fledglings/young birds this week.
I was excited when I saw this contest here in the community because I was going to post about this new bird family anyway this week.
My entry for this Round 117 is the cover photo.