Know Any Good (Bird) Divorce Lawyers?

Hello, Hi, Howdy and Welcome!

I’m almost dizzy from how fast the days are whizzing past.  My shop, Old Raven on Etsy, has been very nicely busy even though traditionally this is my slow time of the year.  At least the pandemic has one or two upsides to go along with its massive, overwhelming down side.

I’ve been listing lots of new items and I’ve also been in my craft room but my work there has been simply replacing some of my handmade items that have been selling out.  Such things as my nib tins:

Antique Nib Tins

These are really catching on in the calligraphy world but they’re also growing in popularity for folks looking for small containers for purse or pocket that hold pills, mints, stash, etc.

Spider Variety Pack

I’m also making my Black Widow Spiders…the Halloween season looks to be starting early this year as the sales on these naughty ladies are already cranking up.

Black Widow Spiders

I know, some of you just went ackkkkkkkk, but actually…that’s the point…these are supposed to make you cringe a little just like Halloween is supposed to give you a few spine tingles.  For sure, making spiders is keeping me busy right now.

But back to Summer and what’s happening outside… The Bird Drama and ‘Will She Ever Forgive Him’?

So, here’s the story.  We have three bird nesting boxes around our house.  To the west and off our front porch is this one…this house is occupied by the Edwards (I should mention all three homes are kept by English Sparrows, every year, without fail).

This house is home to the North’s and is, appropriately, on the north side of our house.  This is right outside one of my craft room’s windows and is favorited from the inside by my cat Smokey.  Nobody seems to be overly bothered, either.

And this is the home of the Albert’s which is east, out our back door and on the back wall of our detached garage.  This was the first nesting box we put up, now over 20 years old, and we’ve had “Albert’s” in residence all those years.

But this year, something has gone wrong.  It began with Albert making continuous calls as he perched on the house or in the nearby trees.  The ‘Mrs.’ (as I call all the bird wives as bird world is still apparently very patriarchal).

As this house is clearly visible from our patio and deck, we have frequent opportunity to view the goings on at the Albert’s but the noise was our first clue something was wrong.

Inside that house there is brood #2 for the year.  All our sparrows go at least one round of babies, usually two and occasionally 3 or 4.

This batch is growing fast and at the age where the parents are in constant motion flying out for food, coming back and filling the gaping maws of these adorable but apparently bottomless pits for baby birds.

Clue #2:  Albert’s not helping.  He spends his time flitting from the roof of the house to the hanging plant chains, to the top of the garage and off in the near trees.  Back last week when this all started, he was seen bringing in fresh nesting materials which the Mrs. not only rejected but she actively ran him away for his poor offerings.

There’s at least two babies in there and she’s working from dawn to dusk putting morsels into the babies.

Albert’s no longer bringing nest stuff but he’s also not bringing food and the Mrs. is MAD.  She frequently spares a moment to run him away from the house and once, when he foolishly decided to ‘surprise’ her having slipped in with the babies…her next round of food was dropped as she not only cleared him out of the house she physically squabbled with him all the way to the floor of the patio – oh yea – she kicked his ass!

So now Albert hangs close (but not too close) and the Mrs looks to be finishing this round of child raising on her own.

I don’t know what Albert did (or didn’t do) but it’s clear he’s no longer welcome here.  If he can’t even come up with a little grasshopper I doubt he’s going to be good for the alimony and child support…talk about your deadbeat dads.

But don’t worry Mrs., the feeder in the backyard boast plenty of new candidates – take the rest of the Summer and by the time Fall and Winter have come and gone you won’t even remember his name.

I’ve never seen a bird breakup before…I hope the children are alright.  Still, it’s been fascinating to watch.

Thanks for dropping in, stay safe. – Kriss