Having just read Mavis' post about the falcon and the blue jay baby, I felt compelled to share a much happier story....
Last weekend, my daughter and her boyfriend were doing some remodeling and tore down an old wooden gutter that had been covered over by a new roof-line. The only thing exposed was the open down spout hole and the sparrows regularly nest in it. Well, sure enough, there was a nest with 2 babies in it. My daughter called me to come over and help decide what to do with it.
We cut off the gutter to about a 6ft length (poor babies were all huddled and shaking). Then we enlisted the boyfriend to climb a ladder and boost the length of gutter up into the highest crook he could reach and wire it in there snuggly. Since the nest had originally been completely covered by the eaves, we stapled a piece of roofing felt over it, kind of "covered wagon" style.
The parents were watching all this, yelling up a storm. They were pretty cautious, but within 20 minutes or so, they were investigating the new set up. When mom returned with a bug in her mouth, my daughter and I just about cried....success!!! The parents have been faithfully continuing to raise their brood and the boyfriend was much more cautious before removing the other gutter!!!!! <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" />
