[cobirds] Fwd: Arapahoe House Finch nest saga

Begin forwarded message:

From: Carol Blackard <carol-blackard@comcast.net>

Subject: Arapahoe House Finch nest saga

Date: June 21, 2014 at 9:20:30 AM MDT

To: cobirds <cobirds@googlegroups.com>

Hi, guys,

As it was accustomed to doing, a House Finch couple built a nest in a neighbor’s artificial flower wreath, but after the three eggs hatched, something, possibly a cat, caused the nest to be badly damaged. It was half falling off on the outside part and one of the hatchlings had fallen to the cement floor. When I picked it up, it was quite cold so I held it to my body for a few minutes before returning it to the nest. In a desperate and incomparably stupid move, we shored up the nest with some wide white tape our neighbor had handy. OK, so yay, we saved the birds because the parents returned and the three nestlings were seen chirping for food. Then, again, disaster struck. The male finch (nice to know it was contributing to the rearing of the young) was seen sitting in the nest for several hours straight and the female was seen going in and out of the nest despite the male’s stubborn and bulky presence. Why? Its right wing was thoroughly stuck on the adhesive surface of the nest-saving tape and no amount of fluttering was going to release it. Ouch. I was able to gently hold the male’s body and work the feathers loose with my other hand. I let the bird go and it flew a short distance and rested on a table. Later we saw it flying well, despite the loss of at least two feathers and a true buggering of the feather barbs (is that the right word?) on the right wing. We removed all of the tape and destabilized the nest with a piece of a basket and plastic wire. So, long story short, only about a week later I was witness to the fledging of one finch. When I inspected the nest the next day, there were no dead bodies, so I think all three babies made it to the outside world where their little lives will probably be in even greater danger. Life finds a way.

Carol Blackard

7802 S Garfield Way

Centennial, CO