Let me take you back four weeks ago when it all started...
Four weeks ago on a Monday evening we discovered that a bird was making a nest in our front door wreath. I distinctly remember thinking when I first saw it, "why are my boys shoving leaves into our wreath?". I was getting ready to pull all of the leaves out when it dawned on me that my boys probably didn't do it, but that it was a bird making a nest. I left it alone for a few days to see if there was more added to it, and sure enough there was. I remember thinking how cool this adventure would be for my boys and I, to be able to observe God's creatures up close.
I ended up taking some time off from our other lessons, so we could observe our "rare" event that was happening on our front door. As a homeschooling parent, I like to take advantage of any learning situations that might come our way, and well, God presented us with a biology lesson.
The boys and I spent a couple of days trying to figure out what species of bird would make a nest in such a small area of our wreath. We would sit by our window off and on watching the birds outside trying to figure out if it was a house sparrow, house finch, a morning dove, or maybe even a hummingbird. After several Google searches we finally figured out that it was a house finch that had chosen our wreath as a safe haven to build and raise her young.
After a week and a half went by it appeared that the nest was finally finished, and ready for her to lay her eggs. On April 12, the first blue-ish-green-with-brown-speckle egg was laid. Days followed after that and she continued to lay one egg a day.
During that time my husband set up a video camera outside, so we could watch the process of life happen without disturbing the expected parents-to-be. During this time my eldest son and I were logging the times that the female finch was coming and going to and from the nest. We did this so we could go back after the whole process was over and analysis a pattern. I continued to watch her after my boys had gone to bed for the night, and continued our logging. Although most people might have found this mundane and over the top, I found this quiet time to be tranquil.
Let's fast forward to this week, which I am sad to say does not have a happy ending. Because my son and I were logging the behaviors of the mommy house finch, we knew when we should roughly see her sitting on the nest. Well, yesterday, I wasn't able to pull up the video on our TV, so I had to wait until my husband was free to help me. Since the video wasn't up until 2:43pm on April 29, I couldn't tell if she had been present in the morning, but I noticed she wasn't on her nest when the video started working again. Hours went by and still nothing, no sign of her or her mate, (I only saw him twice, which is not normal behavior for the male when the female is incubating the eggs, according to what I’ve read). If my calculations were correct, the eggs should have hatched sometime between the 26th and 28th.
Today on April 30, there has been no sign of her still. I am not sure why she abandoned her nest, and I know I will never know. The saddest part about the whole ordeal is knowing there's four unhatched babies who will never get to experience life outside of their shells.
Life itself can be cruel, and some people can brush this kind of stuff off within seconds and go on about their day. However, I am not the type of person who can do that so easily. I wasn't brought up that way. Yesterday I was dreading what I figured was yet to come, and today having it confirmed has been sobering for me. I know this is just the reality of life, but it doesn't make it suck any less either.
Despite the sad ending, over the past four weeks, I’ve come to learn a lot about this bird and its behavior, and have loved the journey. I’ll elaborate on the things I’ve learned later, but for now, I’m writing this just to tell the story. After such a sad ending, I needed some catharsis and closure.
