Do you remember the old movie called ‘The Birds’, where the birds torment a seaside town? Sometimes we feel like that at our house. We have the pigeons that are always laying eggs in my hanging baskets. Once they start making the nest I can’t water the plant anymore so it dies. Their favorite basket is the one right outside the kitchen window. So, I have a window view of the babies hatching and growing. They have become so tame that Tyler – Sandra’s husband always pets them. Sandra freaks out and makes him wash his hands immediately. I wish I knew if it was the same birds laying the eggs or not. Or, are they babies from a prior year that just wait until the vacancy sign shows up? So far this year there have been 3 nests, one right after another in the same basket. I like these birds, they are friendly and it is fun to see the babies grow so quickly.
But: then we have the tormentors: Barn Owls. Their distinguishing feature is that instead of a gently owl ‘hoot’, they make this long drawn out ‘hissing’ or screeching noise. There is quite a large family of them living in palm tree several houses away. They nest under the fronds that hang down against the tree truck. Unfortunately as they are nocturnal they are loudest when Scott and Stephanie are in bed. Unless you have heard one of these birds before I can’t describe the noise to do it justice. Sometimes they get so loud it is quite miserable and the kids have to keep their windows closed. Last year, their first year of residence, I made Jeff and Stephanie go with me to find out what was the horrible noise. There we were in our Pj’s late at night walking on the sidewalk with our flashlights and binoculars – we looked quite a site ourselves. Scott didn’t have much sympathy for the girls until just recently when he moved upstairs to Sandra’s room. Interesting how you hear things differently when it is your sleep being affected.
Their saving grace is two fold, they eat rodents and they look so darn cute.
But: then we have the tormentors: Barn Owls. Their distinguishing feature is that instead of a gently owl ‘hoot’, they make this long drawn out ‘hissing’ or screeching noise. There is quite a large family of them living in palm tree several houses away. They nest under the fronds that hang down against the tree truck. Unfortunately as they are nocturnal they are loudest when Scott and Stephanie are in bed. Unless you have heard one of these birds before I can’t describe the noise to do it justice. Sometimes they get so loud it is quite miserable and the kids have to keep their windows closed. Last year, their first year of residence, I made Jeff and Stephanie go with me to find out what was the horrible noise. There we were in our Pj’s late at night walking on the sidewalk with our flashlights and binoculars – we looked quite a site ourselves. Scott didn’t have much sympathy for the girls until just recently when he moved upstairs to Sandra’s room. Interesting how you hear things differently when it is your sleep being affected.
Their saving grace is two fold, they eat rodents and they look so darn cute.
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