Today's Painting

So far, I have had a bad time with birds and their nests. There was the robin's nest horror, and then this week the wren's nest ordeal. While working out in the yard, Craig found a nest of baby wrens in a hole about knee high up in the side of our house where the AC wires go inside. Three little hungry mouths. I didn't see any sign of adult birds all afternoon and evening and thought about them all night wondering if they had been abandoned. The next day, out of fear, I resisted looking in on them until the afternoon. What I found was two dead babies. One was obviously taken by a predator. Unfortunately, many of our neighbors have outdoor cats, so this is the probable culprit. I am sure most people have no idea how many birds and other animals outdoor cats can kill.
The birds surely decided the nest location was too risky and left it and the babies to die. I had to pull them out by their little feet. Baby birds are the most helpless of creatures....at this age they have absolutely no chance without parents. I spent a long time looking at them. So delicate. A sad day.





I am certain I might be a bird nerd.


5" x 7"
oil on panel
$250, framed