Post of the Week 9/15/08: Our Visitors
Posted by: shulburt in Life Outside of School, tags: Baby Birds, Barn Swallows, Bird's NestsIt was a warm July afternoon when my family and I pulled into our driveway after a long vacation to California and Montana to a pleasant surprise. After unloading our van, I walked across the front yard to check the mail. Stepping over the brick wall and heading towards the mail box I just happened to glance up towards the corner of the porch ceiling and noticed what appeared to be a cake of mud smacked onto the eaves. “What in the world is that?” I asked myself. I gingerly stepped up onto a bench to take a better look.
“Oh my,” I whispered, “Carrie, Christopher come here…quietly!” I was so excited to show them the Barn Swallow nest that I had discovered. We had seen these beautiful black birds flying throughout the neighborhood, but had never seen a nest like this so close.
“I’m too tired, I want to go in and go to bed!” Carrie whined.
“Do I have to?????” grumbled Christopher.
“Just trust me,” I replied, “I think you’re going to want to see our visitors.”
The kids turned and looked at each other with puzzled expressions and said in unison “Visitors?” before dragging their tired bodies across the front yard. As soon as they stepped under the porch they followed my gaze into the corner of the eaves…where what to our wondering eyes did appear but a tiny mama barn swallow sitting on a nest of caked mud.
“Oh look at her!” Carrie squealed softly, “Do you think she has any eggs in there?”
“I bet she does, or else she wouldn’t be sitting there like that,” Christopher replied.
“Well,” I said softly, “we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Each day from that moment, we avoided using the front door in order to avoid disturbing our little friends. We even went so far as to hang a screen beneath the nest just in case…just in case there were baby birds in there and they accidentally fell out. Each day, from that moment on we would carefully crack open the front door and peer silently at the nest to see if we had any new arrivals. Each day from that moment on, it was the same-Mama Bird sitting on the nest, and Papa Bird sitting on the edge of the screen beside her. That is until…
One day we peered out the front door to find that Mama and Papa were gone…but peeking over the edge of the nest were 2 tiny bald heads with big fat yellow beaks. “We have babies!” we happily told our family and friends. We watched those babies grow each day, we watched the Mama and Papa come back to feed them, and when the 2 baby birds grew bigger, we watched Mama Bird sleep beside Papa on the screen so that the babies could have the nest, and eventually we listened to the babies cry when they became hungry. We watched and watched…until one day they were gone…all of them. The babies flew the coop and an empty nest remained. On occasion we would see the grown up babies (and let me tell you if you thought human children grow up fast you ought to watch a baby bird grow…it happens at lightening speed!) come back and sit on the ledge near the nest, but we thought that our experience with Barn Swallows and their babies was over.
That is until one day about 2 weeks ago…Carrie had stepped out to get the mail and Mama Bird was back on the nest. “I think they laid more eggs.” she reported when she stepped inside.
Once again I uttered the words, “Well, we’ll just have to wait and see.”
We didn’t have to wait long, just a few days later Mr. Hulburt reported that he had found a broken egg shell laying on the concrete beneath the nest. The kids and I darted quickly outside (although quietly) and sure enough, as we peeked into the nest we saw movement and suddenly three tiny bald heads with large yellow beaks poked over the edge of the nest! This time there were 3!
photo credit: the superash
The cycle continues…we watch Mama come back to feed the babies, we watch Mama & Papa sleep beside the nest, we listen to the babies chirp when they are hungry, and soon, very soon I’m sure we will see them take their first flight. And then again, we will be faced with an empty nest…it’s sad to think about it-because we have truly enjoyed watching our baby birds grow, we can only hope that there will be more eggs and baby birds to come.
Now, students, please post a quality comment on this week’s entry. Remember to tell the author what you liked about the piece (maybe it was a powerful line, a personal connection, flashy vocab, the picture the story painted for you, etc.). After you tell the author something good about the piece, let them know what area you think they could improve and HOW they can do that (remember EVERY author has room for improvement). Finally, let the author know what you would like from them next…do you have any questions about this piece? Would you like to hear more stories like this one? What can this writer do for you as their reader?
Entries (RSS)
September 15th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Mrs.Hulbert I really like yuor vistors I really think that they were cute and I hope the mother comes back again to lay more eggs and I want to hear alot more but we cant hear more because she did not lay any more eggs and you mad me really happy at the end becuase she went back and layed more eggs so I hope she lay more so bye.
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September 15th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
I loved your pice .That was one of the bests blogs I ever read.I also think you need more flashy vocab.
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September 15th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Wow! Your post made me want to have a bird! (Although my mom dislikes them greatly) And yes, I would love to hear more stories like this one. I love the way you used a lot of detail in this story. I think that you can maby put a little more diolog, and if not diolog, then diolog with “Flashy Vocab” in it. Thats all I have, Thanks!
Johanna
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September 15th, 2008 at 6:25 pm
Hi,
I loved your story. I loved how you used alot of flashy vocab and details in your story. But possibly next time you can discribe alittle more about how the baby birds looked. But other than that you did a wonderfull job.
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September 15th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
that was a awesome post, they sound really cute,AND you took care of your neighbors.(how nice)
how did carrie and christopher get exossted?write ’bout it .’k?:)
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September 15th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
that was a very interesting post my favorite part of the whole post was when you guys saw the first two baby birds and, it really painted a picture in my mind on how the little baby birds looked. I really do hope the mama bird comes back to lay more eggs, and the other bids are doing fine.
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September 15th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
your story was fantastic i liked how you put in it in details ,and flashy vocab. next time put how the birds look like and how you gus felt.
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September 15th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
I really liked your post but I think you need more flashy vocab.I would really like to know how they got there and how they look now if there still there.I didn’t really get a picture in my mind of the black swallows maybe you can describe them more.;}
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September 15th, 2008 at 9:43 pm
hi mrs.H,
i liked your wonderful peace.And I think that you need to add a little bit more flashy vocab.And i think it was wonderful that you had a nest of barn swallows.that is so interesting.thank you for sharing your story with me.
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September 15th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Mrs.Hulburt I love your story but do you think you can say in your story which one you liked better the chicks or the birds.
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September 15th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Miss.Hulburt I think you need a little more intersting vocab but i like how you say the “little bald heads” It’s so cute!
It reminds me of my little bird that died, his name was Tweetie… but that was a great story because it is an animal story and I like animals so much.
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September 17th, 2008 at 8:33 pm
I remember your little nest in the corner of your front porch. However, reading your story made me think of the doves that used to next in my hanging geraniums on the back porch. I too, was always peeking, just ever so carefully into the flowerpot, as I didn’t want to disturb mama and her babies. The first time I saw them, there were 3 little heads poking out from under the mama. They had these shiny, black, inquisitive eyes that seemed to cover just about their entire face…and their beaks…they seemed a little odd and out of place, a bit large for those baby birds. It’s almost as if they had to grow into them. My biggest fear was letting my dogs out several times a day. You see, my Border Collie, Spades, just loves birds. Well, he loves to catch them, and I thought the babies didn’t stand a chance of fledging from my backyard. But lo and behold, nature has a way, and those babies were not only out of the next…they were out of my yard one afternoon. Of course, not much later after that, mama started over, and a new brood was living in my geraniums.
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September 19th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I really liked your story it makes want to read more stories about birds.
Are the birds still living at your house?
Are there any baby birds in the nest?
You need to describe how the birds look now that they are a little bigger than they were before.
How big are the birds?
When did they went, about what day do you think they went to live at your house?
Is there only one nest at your house?
How did it made you feel when you saw the birds?
About how much baby birds were born?
Have you ever seen them fly?
How did you feel when the birds came back?
Did Carrie and Christopher felt elated about the birds?
What do you think the birds were doing at your house?
As the cycle happened did you feel exited?
Did you feel like you wanted to see if there were any birds?
Did you cry when all the birds were gone?
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October 16th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
I really like the pic. of the birds they look so cuite.
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