We Love Texas: Bird Nest

There's a small bird nest inside the chicken coop. It's been there a few years, and I've probably blogged about it before.

I first started paying attention when I noticed two little eggs (about the size of Cadbury mini eggs) in the nest. Actually, when I first really noticed was when a bird flew out in my face one morning when I went into the chicken coop. After a few mornings of being startled by the bird, I began to anticipate it and wait for it to leave before I stepped inside.

Then I started watching for the eggs. After a few more days, there were five eggs. I'm guessing the mama bird was sitting on the eggs when I wasn't out there, because after about 2 weeks, the eggs had hatched.

I would have loved to have seen the mama bird feeding the babies, but that never happened. I never saw the mama again. I'm sure she was around and feeding them, because the babies didn't die and were getting bigger.

Then two weeks later, almost to the day, I startled them. I was trying to take a photo of them all crowded in the nest, and they all flew out. A few flew up and out of the coop. A few sort of fell-flew to the floor. I managed to catch one and took a quick photo before it escaped and flew away.

I was curious about the incubation and growing period. The time stamping on my photos helped. Incubation period was about two weeks, and hatch to flying was about two weeks. Also birds seem to have the same ability as chickens to lay an egg for several days until they have enough and then sit on them to hatch. They also lay the right amount that they can cover and keep warm.

I searched on WhatBird to help, but I can't decide. The more I look, the more I can't decide. They were either wrens or sparrows. Maybe some of my bird watching friends will know.