Birds and Bees

It was actually a kind of sad ending to an exciting first day of the construction project. It had to do with non-human animal parents and the care they show for their babies.<br />n<br />nLet’s start with the bees. We’ve had carpenter bees living in the trellis for a while now, in two separate nests. They’re big, loud buzzy bees that look kind of scary, but really aren’t harmful. They burrow into dead wood, making tunnels and little rooms where their babies develop. Each little compartment houses one baby, and each compartment is walled off from the next by a bit of mulched up sawdust the parents make. What’s interesting is that the baby furthest down the line develops first, and then has to wait til his siblings develop and leave the nest before he can go. Sounds like in this family, you wouldn’t want to be the first born.<br />n<br />nSince the trellis came down yesterday, the momma bees were wondering what happened to their homes. All day long, they were flying around about where their trellis home should be. Toward the end of the day, but before dusk, I could see that the parent bees were starting to explore the pile of wood that used to be the trellis. <em>They’re getting close</em>, I thought to myself.<br />n<br />nThis morning, I went out back to check things out, and saw the black, fuzzy momma bee stuffed up into her nest. Seems that she found her babies and her home. What’s sad is that once that pile of old lumber is carted off to the dumpster, she’s going to lose them again.<br />n<br />nAnd now for the birds. At the end of the day, our General called to us from the backyard. He had found a baby bird on the ground, looking none too good, but still breathing. Its nest was in the tree limbs nearly directly above. We called the local wild animal rescue organization and from their phone recording learned that it’s a myth that baby birds handled by humans will be abandoned by their mother. Best course of action would be to place it back in its nest, or leave it safe nearby and its parents will attend to it.<br />n<br />nWell, the nest was beyond the reach of my ladder. We got a small cardboard box, lined it with dried grasses and left it near the spot where we found it. Momma and Daddy birds were chirping up a storm all around us. I went to check on the baby a couple of times during the evening, and the parents never left the yard. There was evidence they had visited the baby and made it more comfortable with additional padding, making it into a nest of sorts.<br />n<br />nThis morning, the baby was still there, still breathing, and moving around just a bit Baby had even pooped a couple times during the night, all a good sign. Since the workers would be arriving soon, I moved the box up onto the table, and soon the baby was even making some chirps of its own, again, a good sign.<br />n<br />nLater in the morning, I got word that one of the workers (soccer player) was able to put the youngster back in its nest, where he also found the baby’s sibling. I’m sure the parents are just too thrilled to have their baby back in the safety of their home.<br />n<em><br />nBirds, bees, their babies; what a sight and scene to behold. And to help remember that we’re all in this together.</em><br />n<br />nUPDATE: This morning (01 August), we went out to check on the bird, and found it still. Our daughter’s first real exposure to life lost.