The New Landlords

The new boss of the yard perches on top of my Nissan.

My front yard is under new management.  The new bosses weigh less than a pound but there is no doubting who is in charge.

A pair of mockingbirds have built a nest in the mock orange bush just outside my front porch.  I discovered this fact by accident a few days ago, when I found a baby bird on the ground beside the bush.  I spotted the nest, scooped up the bird and was putting it back when I was hit in the back by its mom.

The feisty nature of mockingbirds is legendary.  They are fearless in protecting their nesting territories; the little birds will attack anything, even hawks.  I remember a story in the Virginian-Pilot some years ago that detailed how a mockingbird repeatedly attacked passersby outside a Norfolk highrise building. 

The mockingbirds in my yard studied self-defense but apparently slept through their engineering classes; their  nest had collapsed on one side, allowing the babies to fall out.  Today after finding one baby bird dead and its brother on the ground again, my wife and I decided they needed a little help.  Mary crammed a small wooden basket into the bush, put the nest down in it, and then put the bird in.  So far, the one surviving hatchling has stayed in the nest.

For the rest of the afternoon, we have watched the two parents tend to their child and fuss non-stop at our cats, who we allow out on our screened-in front porch. 

As I write this, I can hear the calls of the equally feisty house wren in the backyard.  They're not known to attack people, but if they spot a cat in their zip code, they will alert the entire neighborhood.