Sunday, May 28, 2006

We've got avian tenants at the cabin.

A pair of sparrow-sized birds have decided to build a nest above the kitchen window out at the cabin. This must be a recent move for them, as we noticed them several times collecting bits of dried grass and such. (Once I noticed one of them trying to pick up several such bits. Birds' beaks not being designed for such maneuvers, it was rather interesting to watch it try to figure out how to keep one bit of grass in its beak when it tried to pick up another.) Although, come to think of it, the nest as a whole didn't look all that new. Maybe they're just remodelling.

I have no idea what kind of birds they are, and of course they would never hold still when I ran for the bird book. They're also apparently very camera-shy, as they were nowhere to be seen when I had a camera in hand. (Or maybe they're just being uncooperative.) At any rate, they're about the size and color of sparrows, though one (the male?) is black-capped or -headed. The dark coloring seems to come down to perhaps its neck, so I don't think it's a chickadee. I'll have to try to get some pictures the next time we're out there.

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