Pre-Ramble: I was all set to write a little Memorial Day blog about war heroes, and explore the sentiment around the military from the perspective of one of my daughter’s friends who will be headed off to West Point in the fall.  As I went to hang our stars and stripes from the hooks on the front porch for inspiration however, I realized that, patriotic or not, all that flag flapping would probably scare Mother Chipping Sparrow as she bided her ol’ time on the nest. (I’m sure she’s already annoyed with the paparazzi.)

As you can probably tell by the title and photo, when I looked out at the nest Sunday morning, the four little blue eggs had begun to hatch into baby Chipping Sparrows (the “Chiplets”) … little pink faces that only a mother could love.

As you can also probably tell from the photo, the strong winds that tore through the neighborhood earlier in the weekend knocked ALL of the needles off of the branches surrounding the nest. Suddenly, the prime, secluded nest location is stripped bare — like a bedroom with no drapes.

The Take-Away:  There is probably a profound parallel to be made between the hatching of the eggs and going off to a prestigious military academy, but I haven’t had enough coffee yet this morning to put that together.  Instead, I’ll just hope that the Chiplet’s favorite food is fresh mosquito larva and bid you to stay tuned…

Pre-Ramble: Quick update on our bird nest …. According to the National Audubon Society’s Sibley Guide to Birds, our resident feathered friend (as discussed in May 12 post) is a Chipping Sparrow (Spizella passerina, shown right).

… a small, gray brown bird with a clear gray chest, rusty crown, white eyebrow with a black eye line, a thin gray black bill, and two faint wing bars.

Apparently, the female builds a “cup” style nest and lays 3-5 blue-green eggs with brown markings (!).  The incubation period is 11-14 days and then an additional 10-12 days of toddlerhood. The tell-tale detail though was this: “Nest is placed low in dense shrubs and is almost always lined with animal hair.” (!!!)

The Take-Away:  Another egg showed up in the nest this morning (see blurry photo below);  T-minus 1-3 more …