This spring we were out at a nearby lake trying to fish before the fish were really out and biting. We took a break and went for a short hike down a dry riverbed. As we were coming back I noticed something in a tree about my height from the ground. I decided to go investigate. I found this incredible nest hanging there!
It’s incredible to imagine how a little tiny bird can weave such a complex nest! God has given it such incredible abilities! I found out the nest was made by a vireo. These are migratory birds that are important to our forests. They eat great quantities of bugs and caterpillars. They often keep harmful caterpillars from killing trees in the forest. They like to sing as many as 40-60 phrases per minute during breeding season! What a neat bird that God has created!
Yesterday my older 2 kids (8yo boy and 6yo girl) were walking down our street coming and I noticed a loud racket of birds. They were squawking and chattering and I looked to see where the racket was coming from. I noticed about 10 grackels chattering and scolding and hopping around and every now and then, several of them would swoop into a tree and swoop out.
On closer observation of the tree they were swooping towards, I noticed a large crow on the branch. The grackels were obviously unhappy with this crow and were telling him everything bad they could think of and making little swoops at him and then flying off to another branch. We continued to watch this little drama for some time, trying to figure out what the grackels were mad at.
The crow occasionally would hop to a different branch or into a neighboring tree. As he came into better view, I could see that there was something dangling from his beak. Unfortunately he was so far away or obstructed by other trees, that I couldn’t tell for sure what it was, but by the size and the way it was dangling, I guessed that possibly it was a baby grackel bird? We watched this for a good 10 minutes before going inside. After inside I occasionally looked out to see if this drama was continuing and it was.
Unfortunately, that’s all to my tale. I got busy with life inside and never saw what became of the crow in the tree and what the grackels did. They sure were upset and indignant! I wonder if the crow flew off or dropped whatever he had eventually? I’ll never know for sure, but it sure was interesting to watch. I did ask my daughter if she liked the sound the grackels were making. She said she didn’t. I told her it didn’t sound all that different from the way it sounds in our house when there are fights going on! If only the offender in our house would behave better than the crow did and drop whatever the fight is about, or if only those offended would ask nicer and be a bit more civilized… I would expect more from kids than from the birds!
