A few weeks ago, on a beautiful Saturday, I spent most of the day weeding around our house. At the back of the house, in one of the bushes, I spotted this nest. 4 sweet little eggs cozy and safe. As I showed everyone else the eggs, I would occasionally scare the mama out of the nest, but couldn't figure out what bird would lay such tiny eggs. Hummingbird was my best guess. Fast forward about a week ago. I quietly approached the nest, and there was the mama, sitting on her eggs. It was a goldfinch. I was happy to have the mystery solved. 
Fast forward to today. Another check on the nest brought unhappy news. There was a hole in the side of it, and on the ground I found 2 eggs that were broken. As you can see from the picture, they weren't remnants of a hatching. Something got to the nest, and it didn't end well. There is still at least one egg in the nest, but I can't imagine Mama coming back to it. So not only are there at least two destroyed eggs, there is at least one that will languish because of neglect. So Sad!!!
.jpg)
This reminds me of another Spring tragedy, about 12 years ago, give or take a year. I discovered a bird's nest with bright blue eggs inside, they were robin's eggs, I was certain. A few days later, Kristin and her friend, Cassidy were playing outside. I don't remember how I discovered it, but sometime during their play date, they had found the nest and "moved" the eggs, and in the process broke at least one. I was heart-broken!! Of course, they were only about 3 or 4 years old, and in all their innocence told me what they had done. I'm afraid I got more upset than I should have with them. As I said, they were just little girls, and didn't mean to be malicious. I think my sadness was for the mama. My mother heart broke for the loss of her babies, because that is what would happen to my heart should I lose one of mine.
Of course, this is the way nature works, and there are little tragedies like this all the time. I just don't like being reminded of that fact.
No comments:
Post a Comment