A Nest in the Front Porch:3

It is with great anticipation that we are watching the nest in our front porch (see most recent post) and witness the little birds grow. After all these are ‘our’ birdies.

Today, we found the nest empty!

However, it is not a happy discovery that the nest is empty because the birdies have spread their wings and flown away already. It is something else. I don’t think they moved to a more luxurious accommodations next door either.

The nest is empty alright, but there are tell-tale signs that something very wrong happened here.

This looks like a crime scene. There are some indications of a struggle. There is even a portion of the nest that was thrown down on the floor of the porch (photo below).

What do you think happened here?

Here is how we found our topiary plant this morning (see photo below). You can make your own judgement based on the position of our plant, the clues left behind, and what was missing.

Our conclusion is that an animal predator, most likely a raccoon (those masked bandits), climb up the plant, and ate the birdies. Poor birdies! A somber reminder that we live in a cruel world.

It is a sad day in our household today.