Saturday, April 24, 2010

Nests

There are lots of different kinds of outside birds. Not all of them are dumb robins. For example, there’s a pair of phoebes building a nest right above our kitchen door. My person and I watch them while we’re washing the dishes. OK, it’s my person who does the actual dish washing; I just sit on her shoulder and cheer her along. But still, we both watch the phoebes build their nest. They bring bits of moss and dirt and are building quite a sturdy-looking nest on a very narrow ledge. I have to admit that they’re very skilled. Still, I wonder at the method they choose. I mean, why bother spending all that time carrying around bits of moss and dirt when all you have to do is find a nice cozy hole in a tree and do a bit of chewing to get the shape and size just right. That’s how a parrot would do it. Since I’m an inside parrot, I make my nests by chewing up cardboard boxes or wooden boxes. We parrots know that chewing is a great nest-building method. No moss and dirt for us!

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