Wordless Wednesday: Housemates

by | Wednesday | March 30, 2011 | 14 comments

Well, I think I’ve established that I am incapable of doing a Wordless Wednesday without words. Can I just call it Wordy Wednesday and be done with it?

Our home is at an age where everything is falling apart at regular intervals. Some pipe or another bursts in a 12 month cycle. Last year’s was one in the slab. This year, the burst pipe was in a less critical area but the paint is looking tatty aand in need of some touchups. While we’re at it, we decided to replace the nasty 80′s teal trim with a more neutral color. The painters arrived early this morning to begin the process.

“What about the birds?” I asked my husband, when we were planning the repaint. He looked askance, then I pointed to the two dove nests we have watched faithfully over the last 6 years. “We’ll go around them,” he agreed.

Sure enough, I was halfway to my destination this morning before realizing neither of us had passed on this vital information to the painter. So off I go, racing home in order to ensure the nests remain unmolested, even if it means a couple of big teal spots under the eaves.

This one has been vacant off and on, but the residents usually come back in the spring.

Hello! Sorry about the noise!

The painters told me they usually remove the nests to paint and then put them back, but I worried they would mess them up and render them unusable. So I said no, just leave them and please be careful. I don’t know enough about bird behavior to know their tolerance for that sort of thing. Besides, I’m pretty sure the bird in the second picture is waiting for an egg to hatch, and I want to leave her alone.

The birds need somewhere safe to hide from all the roaming bobcats, after all.

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  • Cathey

    I grew up in a big old house with several dove nests in the eaves. They were always cooing and walking around on the tin porch roof. It’s a wonderful, soothing sound when you’re a child just waking up! Thanks for giving them some space, Dr. V!

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      Good point. Had they been the loud squawking crows I might have been less benevolent.

  • http://www.romeothecat.com Caroline

    LOL someday, years from now, when you no longer live there, the owners will wonder why the HELL the previous owners repainted but left two random teal spots under the eaves! :) Unless the birds are still there, of course. :)

  • TaxiLab

    You are awesome! :) Yay birdies!!

  • Megan

    if the dove is sitting on an egg, yeah, disturbing it could risk the developing chick’s life. If there’s a vacant nest, removal and replacement may be ok to the next set of squatters who decide to set up shop there. Contrary to popular belief, most birds have a terrible sense of smell, and they will care for a baby even if it has been touched by icky human hands. Birds have a regular schedule of rotating and incubating eggs though, so I’d say if eggs or babies are in the nest, yeah, leave ‘em be, and have the painters leave touch up paint to finish the job once the kids are all grown up and have left the nest :)

  • http://theunfocusedlife.blogspot.com/ Lee Ann L.

    If I can have Wordy Wednesdays, you can too. It is just too hard for me to post picture(s) without explanations.

    You are way too much like me — I would have done the same thing. I love birds, nests, and babies if they come. I try to leave things unmolested knowing the birds will come back.

  • Tamara

    Awww, you’re such a softy, Dr. V :) That’s why we love ya! Lucky birds to live under your eaves.

  • Tabitha W

    We once had mice in the house during the cold winter months. There was a lot of snow and they would not make it if we released them inside. So we got several cages and had about 4 cages of wild mice living with us all winter until it was warm enough for them to go outside. I think we had about 20 total. We also have an area in the shed that we set up so they can live in there during the winter.
    So glad you did not disturb the birds. They are too sweet to move.

  • Kim

    We had birds make a nest in our front door wreath which we worked around by exiting and entering through the garage. Once in a while I’d forget and the birds were pretty forgiving.

  • http://mariodacat.blogspot.com/ mariodacat

    Poor birdies. It’s good you look after dem.

  • LB

    That’s awesome you left the birds nests alone. Some birds are pickier than others when it comes to moving their nests around. I am happy to hear you helped the birds in that way! I love birds and would do the same.

    I don’t know what it is, but lately I met some Veterinarians that absolutely dislike most birds. I guess I just assumed if you were a DVM you weren’t allowed to dislike any animal. :(

    • http://www.pawcurious.com Dr. V

      I don’t like working with birds, but that is more a matter of “I don’t know avian medicine” than dislike for the actual birds themselves. I like them enough to refer them to someone who can treat them properly. ;)

  • http://browndogcbr.blogspot.com/ Hawk aka BrownDog

    Hi Y’all,

    We have a pair of doves nesting in the Lady Bankshire roses climbing the front porch post. This is year three since I first noticed them. They move to the jasmine on the other porch for a second clutch. We’ve detoured guests and delivery people to the garage entrance so the doves are not disturbed. :)

    For Wordless Wednesday I try to stick to leaving a description of the picture as the title. This entire week I’m doing the saga of Hawk’s allergies and the solutions plural. So, there are LOTS of words!

    Y’all come by now,
    Hawk aka BrownDog

  • http://istillwantmorepuppies.blogspot.com Pup Fan

    Aw, you’re the best!