Nest

Last fall, we found a little dwarf pine that was about three feet tall on the clearance rack at the garden store.  It looked a bit yellowed and root-bound, but Scott loved it so we ended up buying it and taking it home.  We did a lot of preparation for the site where we planted it; we dug a nice big hole and mixed lots of much into the soil and then really broke up the root ball on the plant.  It made it through the winter and this spring it has been looking healthy and putting on new growth.  Recently, I had been noticing these little birds frequently hiding out in it and wondered if they might be nesting.  The tree is very dense, so it was hard to see what was going on.  Earlier this week, I caught a glimpse of one of the adults sitting on a nest so since then I have been trying to cautiously keep an eye on the nest and try to figure out what kind of birds the adults were.  Yesterday, I noticed no one was on the nest so I snuck over to take a peek and saw three tiny heads pop up and beg for food.  Earlier today, I got a good shot of dad and finally figured out what they are.  It is an Oregon Junco, a type of sparrow.  If you can zoom in, you can see dad has an insect in his mouth and is about to go feed the kids.

Once dad left, we snuck over to try to get a picture of the babies.  We only got a few shots before dad came back and started chewing us out.  We made a hastened departure. Fortunately, one of the shots didn’t turn out too badly.

Anyway, very cute birds!  I look forward to watching them grow up and fledge over the next few weeks.  So, overall, a happy story about a sad, unwanted dwarf pine tree that not only survived and is doing well, but became the site for some birds to nest!  Could be a kids book or something : )