Birds and little girls

The grand daughters were having fun playing and running around the back yard playing in the sprinklers with Emma my dog.
Then of course big sister Faith gets the hose and decides to squirt the little ones.
It was fun to watch them scream and run away then come back for more.
Yes they are twins Hannah and Alexis age 7 years and Faith is 12 not a lot bigger than they are.
In the mean time…
The papa and mama bird on the patio were showing signs of being nervous because they had ‘new’ eggs in the bird house and they didn’t want them to be bothered by happy children. Or soaked by a hose or whatever else birds see as a danger to their newly laid eggs. I told the girls to be very careful.

Waiting patiently for the noise to stop and the children to leave… papa bird sat on the fence watching for the opportunity to ‘check’ on his babies to be. He is the most care taking papa I have seen and this is our second batch of babies in the last 3 months. He was there sitting at the house before he even found a mama to set up a home with. It has been fun to watch him woo her and wait for little ones.

He would move closer then move away… the eggs are in the nest to the right and papa was showing signs of agitation and anxiety. Wanting to protect whatever that nest held inside. I often wanted to peek inside it but I am way too short and to step on a stool would be not so safe.
After what seemed like an hour I told the girls we needed to go in or go to the courtyard so the eggs can be checked on by the papa bird. He was wanting to see if things were alright.

He would move from bird house to bird house
waiting for the time to fly into their own.

Still waiting for the time…
after the children left the patio and the quiet settled in he finally flew into the right bird house and I imagine sat for a while on the eggs. About two weeks later we have at least two babies perhaps three and he is the most doting papa bird much more than the mama bird. I placed bird feeders near them so they have seeds and whatever they might need for the babies. This has been a very fun year watching each batch of families for a brief amount of time. I think I could be a bird person it is fascinating to watch how they take care of their own and just hang out.

Before we all left the patio my oldest grand daughter thought she would try to squirt grandma… not a good idea. I captured a cute picture anyway. Isn’t that the most ‘oh my gosh I was caught look?’