Squatters in my paint booth

[Ironman63]

I hadn't been out to the garage in about 3 weeks until I went out last Saturday.  This is what I found(top picture).

I checked again today and I saw this(bottom picture).

They are Carolina Wren hatchlings.  It takes about 2 weeks for them to leave the nest.  I guess I can wait 2 weeks to paint.  Ah, the sacrifices we have to make for modeling cars.?

Edited April 2, 2020 by Ironman63

[ChrisBcritter]

Awwwww... Of course you'll be the only guy on the forum who will have to remove down from a paint job.

[espo]

Very cool. Glad you appreciate nature also. 

[Tom Geiger]

Cool, take pictures as they grow!  We had robins nest on an upstairs window ledge one year and we could observe through the glass. I took photos daily.  Note that the parents need access to feed them. Fledglings will eventually hop out of the nest and find ground cover before they can fly

[Karl LaFong]

You could always send them to Pennsylvania - they are one of the few birds that eats spotted lanternflys.

[Mike999]

Good for you!  I have tons of Carolina Wrens in my yard.  I LOL watching them and the other birds harass my neighbor's Tuxedo Cat. 

He tries to stalk them if they're sitting in the yard or in a tree, which never works.  They take off, then swoop down on his head like dive bombers. He leaps up into the air yowling and swipes at them with his paws. Stupid cat is never going to catch any of those birds.

He's also trying to figure out how to eat the turtle that sometimes crosses my back yard. That's not going very well for him either.

[JollySipper]

That's very cool! and it's even cooler that you're going to wait them out instead of disturbing them.....

I once took care of a fledgling Mocking Bird that I found by the driveway that leads into the complex here. He was in danger of either being ran over or the ants getting him, so I took him in. Kept it for about a week or so....... I fed it canned dog food and water off my finger...... I was woke up every day at about 5 AM to him screeching for food.

 

[Ironman63]

10 hours ago, Tom Geiger said:

Cool, take pictures as they grow!  We had robins nest on an upstairs window ledge one year and we could observe through the glass. I took photos daily.  Note that the parents need access to feed them. Fledglings will eventually hop out of the nest and find ground cover before they can fly

I hadn't thought about them hopping out.  My booth has wire mesh on the bottom of it.  I need to cut a piece of cardboard so their feet don't go thru and get stuck.  I'm not worried about them falling out because of the lift up door.

[Ironman63]

7 hours ago, Karl LaFong said:

You could always send them to Pennsylvania - they are one of the few birds that eats spotted lanternflys.

I'd never heard of a spotted lanternfly and had to look it up.  Sorry you are having to put up with an invasive pest.

[slusher]

Wonderful!!

[Ironman63]

I took a couple of pics today.

First one are the babies in the nest.

Second is Mama sitting on a fencepost fussing at me while I was putting cardboard over the wire mesh.  I was really careful to try to disturb the nest as little as possible.

[stitchdup]

I'm glad you are trying to do what you can to help them instead of just getting rid of them. I will be following along for your updates cos its just too cool to see them mature. If they were crows, you would have friends for life but i dont know if any of the wren family remember as well as crows.

[espo]

Thanks for the update on your brood. They're all Beak at this point.  

[Tom Geiger]

My wife noticed that our nesting robins are back and seem to be tending to little ones in the nest. They are again up atop one of our backyard flood lights. A bit too high to see in the nest.

[Ironman63]

Sorry I haven't updated since the 4th but I've been sick with my yearly spring sinus infection.  I felt considerably better today so I went to check on the brood and found the nest empty.  Not seeing any in the garage, I sat in a chair and watched the sky for about 10 minutes and saw a couple of them flying around the house.  They were about have the size of the other birds.  Now I have to clean an unbelievably large amount of bird poo out of the garage.  Not looking forward to that.  Thanks to all who were watching and I apologize for not getting pics since my last post.

[espo]

Thanks. I hope they all made it. 

[markbt73]

On 4/2/2020 at 1:34 PM, Mike999 said:

Good for you!  I have tons of Carolina Wrens in my yard.  I LOL watching them and the other birds harass my neighbor's Tuxedo Cat. 

He tries to stalk them if they're sitting in the yard or in a tree, which never works.  They take off, then swoop down on his head like dive bombers. He leaps up into the air yowling and swipes at them with his paws. Stupid cat is never going to catch any of those birds.

He's also trying to figure out how to eat the turtle that sometimes crosses my back yard. That's not going very well for him either.

Is his name Sylvester, by any chance?

[Deuces ll]

That was my first cat's name when I lived in Australia.....

That was a long time ago.... ?