Squatters

You might recall that last spring we had a bird's nest on top of a column on our front porch (see here). What I failed to tell you about was the terrible mess that bird and her four babies made! We were very happy when they finally left the nest, allowing us to hose and scrub down the brick column and the concrete porch below. And we decided NOT to rent that space out to another pair of birds, ever again!

Well, here it is Spring again, and guess who showed up, uninvited, and tried to move in! So before they had much work invested in their nest, we hosed it down and told them to find another place. But the next day, they were back again, starting work on a bigger and better home.

The war was on! Human brains against bird brains . . . a no brainer, right? Out came the hose and a ladder. We (as in Dan) cleaned off the beginnings of the second nest, told the birds to go find a tree, and put up a "No Vacancy" sign, in the form of a plastic jar, filled with water (for weight), that left no room for a nest. For a good part of the afternoon, we heard the angry birds, perched on the eves of the garage, opposite their desired property, squawking their claims of discrimination to the entire neighborhood. But we had won the battle . . . or so we thought. Here's what greeted me when I locked the front door, before bed, last night.

And they are still there this morning, looking smug and victorious.