This morning I discovered what Princess has known for a few days - we have a family of birds who are using our house for flight school.
Our garage is directly below Princess' room and has a small overhang with a rain gutter. The four babies birds (dubbed Birdy, Fluffy, Tweety, and Chloe by Princess) sit on the gutter under Princess' window and wait patiently for Mommy and Daddy to come feed them. When a parent is in sight, the babies flutter their little wings and cheep for all they are worth. I imagine that they are saying, "Me! Me! I'm hungry! You fed her last time! Pick me! I'm here!" Once the parent has flown off, all becomes quiet again. No bickering. No sibling rivalry. Just primping, preening and stretching until Mom or Dad comes back with another bug or berry.
Every 10 minutes or so the returning parent will give some sort of signal and all four little ones fly away. Within a few minutes they are back on our gutters, stretching and grooming themselves after their exercise. It is wondrous to watch!
Watching the little family prompted this exchange:
Buddy: When I grow up, I'm going to be a baby bird.
Princess: (very grown-up) Buddy, you can't be a baby bird.
Buddy: (disappointed) Why not?
Princess: Because you can't be something that you're not. (in an accommodating way) When you grow up you can be a scientist that studies baby birds and dinosaur bones, but you can't be a baby bird.
Buddy: I don't want dinosaur bones.
Princess: (exasperated) Oh, Buddy!
I like having such original commentary to the documentaries that I see out my window!
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