The Birds Who Stopped the Building

That first winter was unbelievably cold but come spring we were happy and ready to get started on finishing our house. We had decided over the winter that as soon as possible we would put the stucco on since we had already put up the Styrofoam and wire before winter had come on full force.

Of course we had to wait until it was warm enough and one thing led to another and we didn't get to it right away. Unbeknownst to us, while we weren't watching, some sparrows decided to build a nest above the bathroom window. Now what were we going to do? If we had noticed it soon enough we would have knocked the nest down before they were finished building it. No such luck! By the time we realized it was there they were already sitting on eggs.

This was taken later in the summer when the babies were already getting big.

Now you may be thinking to yourself.  Here are two people who are hunters, who raise their own meat and butcher it without so much as a by your leave and we are hung up on what to do with a few sparrows sitting on eggs? You would be right in thinking maybe we were a bit daft...  I know thought the same thing! But the more I thought about it the more I couldn't just knock them down. Its not like I was going to eat the eggs as I was pretty sure it was too late for that. I have a code I live by and I just couldn't do it. They weren't food and they weren't doing any real harm. Besides! Sparrows eat a lot of bugs and they keep the hawks, owls and ravens away.

They are such tough little birds! I've seen two or three of them chase a hawk away with no difficulty whatsoever. We really needed some on the farm so we let them stay. We watched the babies grow up and finally fly away. It was pretty awesome actually. Once they were gone we broke down the nest and proceeded with the stucco. No big deal and now I wasn't quite so worried about getting the chickens. We had perfect little helpers who would watch the skies for us, at least while they were here.