Thursday, March 28, 2013

Spring is Here...So I Thought

This weekend proved to be anything but nice, weather-wise.  I spent the first half of Saturday working a bike ride in torrential rains getting chilled to the bone.



While the race was delayed for over an hour we cruised around the State Park and we saw lots of deer.  I was just glad to get home that afternoon, take a nice hot shower and crawl in bed.

Sunday proved to be a gorgeous day with blue skies and quite chilly but was spoiled by 25 - 30 MPH winds that made the temperature feel like it was 30°.  My anticipated day of working in the garden went down the tubes.  I don't do wind.



Sunday night was supposed to freeze so I took the 12 dwarf English boxwoods, that were scheduled to be planted Monday, into the garage for the evening.  I also took down the three Boston ferns that were hanging on the front porch.

I was giving the ferns a drink of water when I discovered this.  Yes, it's a little nest, about 3 inches wide.  I called Lovey to come take a look.  I was in a quandary whether to return the fern to the front porch on the chance it would freeze.

Within minutes Lovey discovered poor, frazzled Mr. and Mrs. House Finch fluttering around wondering where in the world the fern disappeared to!  Her little beak was full of nesting materials and it was in that moment I realized her nest was still a work in progress.  They flew away in a panic and I returned the fern to the porch hoping I hadn't spoiled it all.

An hour or two later Mr. House Finch came to check things out, disappeared and returned with the little lady; beak full, ready to continue the construction of their new Spring home.

Mrs. House Finch stayed busy all day Monday working on her nest.  Mr. HF is proving to be such a caring mate.  He acts as the watchman as Mrs. HF gets in there, bottom up, weaving all of those materials in what will soon be the home for 3 to 5 little light blue speckled eggs.



I've had a hard time getting a good photo of the couple as they fly away anytime I walk outside.  Here is what they look like.  Photo is from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology website; which is a fabulous website for all things birds.

Hopefully I'll be able to share a photo of the eggs in the near future!