WHERE DID MY BABY CHICK GO?

The following morning the pressure cleaning crew were spraying outside our house with bleach before starting the power washing.  The mother bird was lying over her chicks at the time we approached her.  Feeling uneasy, she flapped her wings preparing to fly away.    We carefully carried out the planter again to the rear of the patio.  The mother bird surprisingly stayed with the nest this time

The noise from the power washing was very loud, making the bird  very uneasy.  She had hoped to have her nest in a quiet safe place. Hours after the men left my street, I checked the nest.  Mother bird was walking on my patio, assuming to find food.  One chick was gone.  Where did it go? Hearing a tweet from my roof was the mother bird.  “Where did your chick go?  What did you do with it?” I asked.  Although the bird could not speak, she flew to the baron wall.  That was a stupid place for her to go.  Doesn’t she know her chicks were moved?  Was she trying to tell me something?

Noticing another bird on my patio fan, a little larger than mother bird, I figured that must be the father bird looking at the bare wall. They are trying to tell me to return the nest back on the wall.  But the painters will be back tomorrow to complete the job, I thought. “So what,”  I will move the nest again when the painters return.

But what about the missing chick?  Did the mother bird take it to a safer, quieter place?  Was she intending to move the other chick as well?  Was the scent of the chlorine bleach offensive for her chicks?  Will the baby chick return to the nest?  I am so upset yet proud in a way I was able to understand them. As soon as we placed the planter on the wall, mother bird flew to the planter, looked inside and jumped in..

The next day, the painters started their painting task.  We removed the planter with the nest again to the rear of our patio.  At that time the painters were aware of our nest and was concerned about the missing chick as well. 

One of the painters called our attention to the ground under where the planter was hanging originally and noticed the dead chick.  Feeling sad, we wondered what happened.  My thoughts were that the mother bird took one of the chicks to a safer place, then planning to return for the other one.  When the planter was returned to the wall, she tried to bring the chick back to the nest.  Perhaps she dropped it by accident, or the chick died in transit.

Some say if a chick dies in the nest, the mother bird  will not return.  Thus, we assume the chick was alive before it was carried out.  The mother bird continued to sit on her one and only chick.  It is nice to see how much the baby chick has grown in just a few days.



MAMA BIRD

BABY CHICK