When you think of a bird's nest, you probably imagine a beautiful little work of art consisting of delicate twigs and vines and bits of moss diligently collected by the mama and daddy birds, tightly woven and neatly bound together to form a safe nest in which to raise their new babies ... right? Well, I've discovered that not all bird nests look like this one:
Some nests look like the busy little mama and daddy birds could have used a few lessons in nest-building before they started working on their nest. The little house wrens (I think) that built this nest on top of a column on our porch are a case in point. Just look at the results of all their hard work:
And they couldn't have picked a worst spot for it ... under our porch where we spend a lot of time (when it's not so hot).
This is the fourth time they've built a nest on top of that column. The first three nests either fell apart or were blown down, and they finally abandoned them. I thought they had learned a lesson, but I guess they thought they would give it one more try.
You've got to give them an A for effort and diligence, at least, but I don't think they'll ever get more than a C- for aesthetics, bless their little hearts.
If this nest holds together long enough for the wrens to have babies, I will keep you posted. However, having experienced the dubious pleasure of birds building a nest in a basket on my front door once, I have to admit that I have mixed emotions about them raising their babies above my rocking chair on the porch.
