Little Chicks

While I write this, my Mom, Dad and brother Robbie are preparing for landing in Buenos Aires, could anything be more exciting?! As I anxiously await the arrival of our first wave of Christmas guests, let me recap my almost-as-exciting yesterday.

A little back story, we have a newly renovated apartment in a very old building, and to the renovator's credit, they did a fantastic job. One of the key components that is missing is that none of the "exhaust" pipes to the outside of the building (bathroom fans, dryer vent, stove exhaust, etc) were capped off with a grate or cap of some kind. Thus, birds have taken up residence with us for the last year.

I thought it was kind of cute, these birds would dive bomb into these little pipes and then sit outside and sing and chirp and whatever all day. They were kind of like my little pets that required no maintenance whatsoever. That, and apparently I have a lot of time on my hands. Moving on -
This became a problem when the nests they build started to overflow into our apartment, specifically, two of our bathrooms had bugs and twigs and crap falling all over the place on a daily basis. And the bathroom fans stopped working. And the birds were LOUD starting super early in the morning. And I think I've mentioned we're having company. These roommates needed to move out.

Cut to yesterday, the maintenance men came to evict my bird-friends only to find 5 baby chicks living in one of our bathroom pipes. It was dramatic. Being pregnant, emotional and an animal lover I was flipping out that the babies were going to die. That and the mama bird was spazzing out crying and squawking because her chicks have mysteriously disappeared. I called Jon. I called my mom. I may have cried a little. Maybe this is why the maintenance guys brought the nest (complete with 5 chicks) inside and asked where I wanted them to relocate the home. The answer: On the window ledge.
Right next to my beloved basil. Actually, they are kind of guarded by the basil since we live on the fourth floor and there is nothing stopping them from walking right off the ledge.

So the rest of my day was luring the mama bird to her chick's new home and praying that she doesn't abandon them because they now have human smell. (Speaking of which, is that true? People have talked about birds instantly abandoning their young due to a human picking them up one time. True or False??) I lured her with crackers and cereal - neither of which she wanted anything to do with. She just kept trying to fly into the caged off bathroom fan tube. I am pleased to report that she has found her babies, as has the papa bird, and they have been feeding their hungry chicks dragon flies and bugs all day. Thank goodness.

One more shot of my adopted chicks. They're pretty freakin' cute.

And that, my friends, is how I spent my Thursday.