04 May 2001

Well, I've been holding my breath for the last few days. On Thursday May 3 I checked the Blackbirds nest. Wham!! 4 chicks. But I thought they were all dead. Well no, they're not all dead. They're all alive, but they spend most of their time sleeping. I get to look at them with a mirror when the blackbird goes out for more food. It seems as if they don't need very much food at the moment, but as they get bigger they will eat more and keep the blackbird much busier. The bird is very cautious in her approach to the nest. She never flies in to it. When she has collected enough food by way of spiders and worms, she makes her way to the driveway in front of the house and lands on the ground. After a short while she goes in under the garage door where there is a little opening. She then runs all the way across the garage floor and hops up on the wheel of my bicycle. She stays there for a while checking things out. She then hops a little higher to the back of a high chair. This chair, oddly enough is called a perch. After some time on the chair she makes the final hop to the shelf and hops over to the nest where dispensing into open beaks takes place. This routine is the same every time.The robin is still there on the other shelf. For a while I thought she had deserted. But no. I still haven't been able to see into it's nest. The last time I tried to look in I nearly got an eye full of robin, so I'm more cautious about it now. I don't want to frighten the birds off the nest, now that they've got this far.