Mamas - Human and Feathered

Like many of you, I have struggled with American Robins who have tried to nest on my porch, both here and at our former home. They seem to like to be where we like to be but their nest building is not very tidy and as the "mud" they make dries out thoroughly it's always dropping off the nest onto our porch. And while they flit and flutter around looking for real estate, they leave lots of "white piles" all over the place. So for the last few springs that we've lived in our new house, we've had to "discourage" nest building on top to the downspout just where it turns and runs just under the eave at one end of our porch. They start checking the location and begin depositing dried "vegetable matter" (as spinners call it). That's when I get agitated and start taking long sticks and brooms to the small pile of potential safe chick havens. Then we find a box or large plastic bottle to stuff up in the ideal bird home location. This year it was a perfectly sized Thirty-One Bags box.

The white drips
may be hard to see
but you know what
it is!

So far that had solved the problem. Until this year. Normally, after the first encounter of the year, she moves along and finds an alternative location. Yesterday I was trying to vacuum up the pollen off the porch in preparation for a ladies' get-together back there when I was startled by a startled mama Robin. No one had sat in the porch swing for a few days and in the interim, she snuck back to our porch, built a nest and deposited 3 eggs, all unnoticed by us. Well, once the eggs are in, we don't really have the heart to tear it all down. And, man-o-man, are they beautiful eggs - all robin-egg blue. Oh, wait, of course they are.

Do you see her sitting there on top of her nest -
among fake leaves on a fake tree!

I'm assuming they like the nice, clean spaces that humans create because look what is just off our porch from which she could have chosen:

Sooooo, I am trying to ignore the mess she's making, trying to resist the urge to sit in the porch swing and I'm sneaking peeks when she flutters away at our appearance. Sneaking peeks with my camera in hand.

We were at the blue-topped
table and she is to the right of
the fake tree down in the corner.

Well, today was the day of our knitting get-together - with 6 of us mamas sitting out there, knitting, and talking and laughing - often loudly - and for much of the time, our little birdie mama was sitting on her nest. Quite amazing since I just discovered it yesterday and today she was suddenly inundated with noise. She must be trying to ignore our movements, ignore our noises and tolerate it all for the chance to raise her family behind the cover of a tree. Albeit, a FAKE tree. And to top it all, she deposited another egg.

So we'll watch the young family hatch and eat and beg and then fledge into our back yard. And then I'll clean up the leftovers.

I guess I'll just have to buy some more Thirty-One bags so I have another box to stuff in the space. Sounds reasonable to me.

Where we ate before moving to the porch.