Chris and Sherry Hardie

B&B homesteaders

Opening up a bed and breakfast was the realization of a dream for us. Our long-term goal is to be self-sufficient (we're well on our way) and to be able to share the earth's bounties with our guests.

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Birds busy nesting

These baby robins want food all of the time. 
We often have guests comment on how many birds we have here at Brambleberry. From song birds to swallows, hummingbirds to hawks, turkeys to sparrows and even some eagles, this is a birder's paradise.
Many of our avian friends are visible just by sitting on our porches. The barn swallows nest in the former dairy barn and are our natural mosquito predators. You can watch them dip and dive from morning to night catching bugs for their young.
We also have lots of robins. This spring a robin built a nest on a decorative basket we hung on the wall of our garage with hopes that's exactly what would happen. It's a non-stop battle to try to keep the robins and other birds from nesting right near our porch doors.
There were actually three birds in the nest -- you can see the tips of the yellow beak of the third bird near the adult robin. Without feathers the baby birds look more like prehistoric creatures. But they wait with open mouths as the parent comes in with bits of regurgitated worms and other food to feed them. It's an endless job that doesn't stop until the birds are big enough to fly away.
And then the circle of life continues.

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