Hi there,
I have a little sparrow nesting story I wanted to share and maybe someone can give me some input with a couple of questions that have peaked my interest.
I live on the 7th floor of my apartment building. We have a balcony with a barbeque on it. One day I opened it and to my surprise, was this huge beautiful nest. It took up nearly 3/4 of the grill. I was so excited you would think I was a new parent or something! The lid was shut and they would come up through the bottom with every little strand of just about anything they could find.
Well, my boyfriend was quite surprised as well, but begged the question of what to do when we wanted to barbeque this summer. Without hesitation, I said, we just won't be barbequing this summer! Needless to say, my plan did not stick.
Seeing as how I felt like I had just gained the possibility to have little baby sparrows being born on my very own balcony, I decided we had to come up with a solution without disrupting all of their hard work.
I asked around and people seemed to think that if we tried to move it (which meant touching it) that the sparrows would abandon it, had they thought that a human had come in contact with it.
The last thing I wanted was to ruin all of their hard work and what must have been hundreds of trips up to my floor to create their peaceful little haven.
After much thought, I found myself determined to move this nest with the utter hope that they would continue to use it.
So, here's what I did. I got a brand new box, layed out some newspaper, and ever so gently, placed the nest into the box. I then got my trusty ol' duck tape and sealed off every edge . I then cut a circular hole close to the bottom of one side of the box and poked a pen through right underneath the whole to act as a perch.
My plan was to put the box on top of the grill leaving the lid up in hopes that when they came back, they would find their new home. Once they did, and when we decide that we want to barbeque, we just have to lift the box and place it on the floor of the balcony in the corner and everyone would get what they want.
The next day, my boyfriend called me at work (he works nights) to tell me that, the sparrows had not only found it, but they were already entering into the little whole I had cut! I was so happy you would not even believe it!
It's been about 2 months since we relocated the nest and I am happy to announce, we have babies! I am not sure how many, but I can tell you that with the amount of worms their bringing up and the high pitched chirping sounds coming from inside, there has to be more than one.
I noticed that there are two different colored sparrows, one is a reddish brown (which I believe is the mom) and a lighter brown colored one (which I believe to be the dad). They both seem to contribute equally at gathering food for their new little additions.
Believe it or not, I have really condensed this story! It might appear to be quite lengthy and I thank anyone who's made it this far! He,he.
One thing I think I do know now is, based on the theory's that birds will not reuse a nest once it has been handled by a human, I know now is untrue, well at least for a common southern Manitoba Canadian sparrow.
Here are my questions if anyone thinks they can help me. Keep in mind, I do not know the exact type of sparrow, but I am sure it's a sparrow species.
How many eggs will they lay in one nesting? Do they nest more than once a season?
Will they leave the nest once all their babies have learned to fly and have left?
Will they come back next year? If so, would they use the same nest?
I am curious to see what it looks like inside!
I am very confused about one thing, because we want to give them as much space as possible (we usually watch from the window) I have only got close the hole a few times to try and peak in the hole to see if I could see anything and right at the whole entrance is an egg! It's a light cream color with brown spots, about the size of one of those Easter egg chocolates.
Why would they be exposing an egg so close to the opening? Could it be that they want it to get sun?
If anyone knows anything, I would greatly appreciate your feedback. I tried to do some research, but unless I know the exact species, I can't find much.
Thank you for listening and I hope to hear from someone soon.
