Special deliveries: Birds nest in unexpected places
Staff writer
Alternative nesting could be a growing trend in the avian community, as two Marion residents recently discovered birds nesting in unusual places.
Hope hatches in a mailbox
When Presbyterian Church pastor Jeremiah Lange was unlocking the doors of a church-owned house April 5 in preparation for a Christian education group meeting, a fluttering blur surprised him as he stepped out its front door.
“A bird flew right past my face,” Lange said.”
As looked around he noticed some colorful eggs in an unexpected place.
“Their nest was inside the mailbox,” he said. “I thought, ‘Oh that’s cool.’ They were nestled in beside all the junk mail that hasn’t been pulled out of there.”
Not wanting to scare the mother, he refrained from investigating further and went back in the house, but after the group meeting he quietly showed his discovery to some teenagers.
He said the birds picked a relatively quiet place for their nest, as there isn’t much traffic on the porch, except on Wednesdays because the church’s mail is delivered to the church.
Curious about what type of birds took up residence in the mailbox he did a little ornithological research and discovered house finches typically have a “bluish green color and speckled.”
The eggs hatched a week after he discovered them.
“I went to go check on them and the mother flew away again,” he said. “I found about five hatchlings all with their eyes closed huddled in the nest.”
As of Thursday, he had yet to work his discovery into a spring sermon, but was happy to see new life on church property.
“It’s pretty neat these birds found a place to call home here at the church,” Lange said, “that’s what the church is for; it’s a place for families to grow and build their faith.”
A bird to rival Larry
A Marion family recently had to call timeout on their regular pickup games of basketball in order to strategize how get past a tenacious defender.
The Josh and Lisa Wesner and their four children had laid down their portable basketball goal a couple weeks ago during the high winds. When they went to stand it up again Lisa noticed the goal had a winged warden.
“There was a nest with a really big bird in it,” Wesner said. “I’m assuming it’s a robin because those fly all over our yard. Our kids are usually out there playing, and when we found the nest they asked ‘How are we going to play basketball?’”
Situated where the goal connects to the backboard, the nest was too high up for anyone in the family to see inside. Lisa said two of her children got on top of the family Suburban to try examine the nest.
“We still don’t know if there are eggs in there,” she said.
They didn’t want to break the eggs by moving the goal and seem to have accepted the temporary lull in driveway basketball.
“We don’t really have a plan to get it down; this has never happened before,” Wesner said. “I guess we won’t play basketball for a while. Hopefully it flies away so we can play this summer.”