Sparrow Videos

Today the weather has been absolutely beautiful: sunny, warm, with a slight breeze.

EJ and I enjoyed a leisurely morning. (JJ is a night owl who stays up late and sleeps late.) After we drank several cups of coffee and ate breakfast, I went outside and filled up all the birdfeeders and put fresh water in the birdbath. Then EJ and I decided to drive to the home improvement store for fencing. Part of our wooden fence was crushed last winter when a dead tree fell on it. It’s been a trial to get it fixed because we were exhausted from JJ’s cancer battle and then EJ has been working a lot of overtime. But even though EJ’s back continues to really hurt, he thought he’d try to get at least some of the new fence put up. We aborted the mission when we saw that our neighbor had fixed the fence for us. It felt sort of like the story of the Shoemaker and the Elves, though our “elf” was our neighbor. EJ went over to thank him and stayed to chat for quite a while. He still has to put up gates and finish the woodshed, but now he doesn’t have to rush. He can do it here and there when his back doesn’t hurt quite so much.

While EJ was gone, I did dishes, swept the floor, and began to wash the windows. We have windows that we can slide down and out so they are easy to wash. I got three windows washed (the ones I watch the birds through, of course) before EJ returned. He asked that I make potato salad, so I stopped to make it for him and then we enjoyed a summery lunch of hot dogs, potato salad, coleslaw, and potato chips.

It’s difficult to take photos out the window because the screens get in the way when I try to zoom in. However, while EJ was talking to the neighbor, I decided to try to take videos of the sparrows in the birdhouses. They turned out really well so I wanted to share them here. This first video starts out with the baby sparrow looking out of the birdhouse. Then the Mama Sparrow arrives to feed him:

This second video shows sparrows in the birdhouses. They are just moving in and building their nests.

The birdhouses are located just outside my kitchen window so I watch them whenever I am working in the kitchen. It’s a joy.

Tomorrow we are going to visit EJ’s sister and her family.