Saturday

[nightdog_barks]

Peeked in this morning and ... the nest is empty. Empty as in the chick and the other eggs are gone. And by gone, I mean not there, disappeared, like they were never there.

So. I have no idea what happened. A quick Google turned up some info that sometimes male wrens will destroy their own eggs. We had a thundershower move through at about 1 a.m., but otherwise there was nothing unusual.

I'm not heartbroken; I do wonder what happened but will probably never know.
ETA that the general consensus is that a night predator, possibly a rat or a possum, robbed the nest. It's still possible, however, that the parents may try to reuse it. Yes, I'll be an optimist. *g*

Bright sun and a bit cooler at 69 degrees. Otherwise not much yet. Started reading Hallelujah Junction, the autobiography of the American composer John Adams, last night.

And thus endeth the wren saga. Won't touch the nest in case someone else wants to use it.

Comments

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

Oh, gosh. I'm sorry.

I wonder if a snake got them? That would explain the eggs and the baby being gone without the nest being torn up.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

It's possible, but the only snakes I've ever seen around here are very small garter snakes.

[blackmare-9.livejournal.com]

Huh. I've never heard of birds moving their babies, so I'm sadly thinking the same thing as Corgigirl: snake. That, I've seen; I've seen a snake climb a tree to get at a nest.

Today I slept way in. I mean, I woke at 7:30, but I'd been up late and a storm came in and disturbed my sleep in the pre-dawn hours (lots of wind & thunder) and I went back to sleep and didn't wake again until almost 10.

I'll be leaving in about a half hour for an art shindig thing with my friend Gail's fun group. I think it'll be good. I understand there's wine involved, and it's in an artist's studio. Still very gray, cold and drizzly here today, but we need that rain, so I won't gripe about it.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

I dunno ... like I said to Corgigirl, the only snakes I've seen around here are itty bitty garter snakes. It's possible there's something larger around, but if there is it's been pretty secretive.

Everything's better with wine. *g*

[taiga13.livejournal.com]

I've seen a snake climb a tree to get at a nest.
Well I know what I'll be having nightmares about tonight (shudder)
I'm so sorry you lost your babies. It's the cycle of life, carnivores need to eat too, but that's no comfort.
A quick Google search turned up that "cats, rats, opossums, woodpeckers, foxes, owls, raccoons, squirrels and various snakes" prey on wrens. Yes, woodpeckers! They've been seen snatching chicks from the nests, I was surprised to learn.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Heh, that's what I just said to Mr. N -- it's the whole circle of life thing.

I'm suspecting it was a rat, because we've seen them in our landscape timbers sometimes. I think if it was a possum, more stuff around the nest pot would've been disturbed, and we don't get cats in our backyard very often because of Chango.

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

At our old house, a very large pine snake fell out of one of the trees onto the patio and completely freaked the dogs out. Freaked me out too, since we liked to sit on the patio every day that the weather was nice.

We're having intermittent thunderstorms and heavy rain too. The mister and I went out to run errands and stopped at a thrift store that's just opened up. I bought a Pyrex dish and was sorely tempted by a rocking chair. :D

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

LOL! I think the largest snake I've ever encountered was a rat snake, years and years ago. They can get pretty big.

And I too have been sorely tempted by rocking chairs, on more than one occasion. *g*

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

If I'd had more cash on me, I would have bought this one. It's a high-backed wood glider rocker with an ottoman. The condition was somewhat beat-up, but nothing I couldn't have fixed by sewing new cushions and rubbing some fresh stain over the wood finish. Maybe next time. :D

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love gliders! We don't really have room for a nice rocking chair right now, but if Mr. N is ever able to actually retire I'd like for us to move and get rid of a lot of stuff. I'd get a rocking chair then.

[pwcorgigirl.livejournal.com]

I like gliders because they take up so little space and there's no chance of squishing a dog or kitty paw under a rocker. And the mister likes to nap in chairs, so high-backs are always a plus.

[perspi.livejournal.com]

OH, yes, I ADORE my glider chair that we bought just before Z was born. ADORE. IT.

(of course, I sat in every single chair available at the baby/kids store we went to when we were shopping for chairs. I was exhausted by the time we were done, but I've always been happy with the purchase!)

[felis-nocturna.livejournal.com]

Oh. That's strange. I'm sorry. And I would think the same as Mare and Corgigirl, a snake or another predator, because otherwise it would be very strange that there isn't even a trace left, wouldn't it?

In other news, just came home from a meeting with a friend. We had some ice-cream with hot chocolate cake and afterwards went to see "A Single Man". Had its flaws, but a brilliant performance by Colin Firth. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tCxRO67gyk) ()

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Perhaps it was a rat. We've had occasional sightings of rats in our landscape timbers.

Aw, Colin Firth! Heh, we saw him just the other day in Shakespeare in Love. He's terrific.

[silverjackal.livejournal.com]

If there is no sign whatever of hatchling or eggs then a predator of some sort got to them. If it was the male being destructive you would see egg shells, and dead baby birds (because they would all be fairly fully developed at this point). Opossum, or something of the sort, is very likely if the nest was robbed at night.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

We do have possums, but none of the pineapple plants around the nest pot are disturbed. Do you think it could have been a rat?

[silverjackal.livejournal.com]

Rat, opossum, snake, raccoon, skunk... there are a lot of possibilities. The lack of disturbance doesn't really mean much because many small predators are very nimble and don't knock things over. If there was wet ground around the nest so you could see prints you could probably identify the source, but given that it was hard substrate and the eggs and hatchling are gone you're only left with "something big enough to either eat everything all at once or carry the rest off". Leaving the nest is a good idea -- if the parents survived they may try to renest there.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's good to know -- I was going to ask you about the nest.

Oh well. It's a sad thing, but in a way I'm glad it wasn't anything I did because then I would have felt really awful. And stupid. *g*

[silverjackal.livejournal.com]

No, it certainly wasn't anything you did. Nature is neither sweet nor gentle.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Are God and Nature then at strife,
That Nature lends such evil dreams?
So careful of the type she seems,
So careless of the single life ...

From In Memoriam, Canto LV
Alfred, Lord Tennyson

*g*

[elynittria.livejournal.com]

Oh, dear. I know it's the way of nature and all that, but I'm sad about this. I'll miss the wrens.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Me too.

:-(

[crackpig.livejournal.com]

Sorry 'bout that. Nature sure is a mother-

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Ain't it the truth.

Thanks, sweetie. :-)

[perspi.livejournal.com]

Hi Nightdog hello!

I'm sorry to hear about the wrens, and I'm going to hope another nest gets built and babies hatched and flying where you can see them, because yeah, circle of life and all, but it's still REALLY COOL to be able to see the whole process. :)

As for me: I got some work done this morning, and sent a rather shitty draft to GW (my former grad advisor and potential second author on the current MS) to see what he thinks. I was late getting home with lunch, and then I forgot half the Mr's order, and so I'd worked myself into an anxious lather by the time I got home, and even now, after lunch and reading stories and Z going down for sleep, I'm STILL not relaxed from it--I still have an anxious little ball of butterflies in mah belly, and I'm kind of keyed up. WTF, self? I don't usually do this.

Anyway: I'm almost done with the grocery list, and I'm going to go to the store before Z awakens, I think. So: see you soon!

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Eeek! Did you have any caffeine this morning? Or maybe it's hormones? *hugs*

See you when you get back!

[perspi.livejournal.com]

I had caffeine! I had my usual dose, plus a little: I made a 16-oz thermos to take to the office and another 12-oz mug, so three scoops of loose-leaf tea (instead of my usual two-scoops-for-16-oz).

I'm wondering if it is hormones, or the gray and rainy weather, or the fact that we're getting close to the end of April and my MS still is so unfinished. I'm kind of hoping GW will add a bit himself, rather than telling me what I need to add. *hopes*

Because the truth is, the expectation to get research out while teaching the load I teach fucks over a lot more people than just me.

Anyway. I'm really going now, for reals! Maybe. :)

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Heh. I admit to feeling that way sometimes with collaborative writing -- the hoping others will add something. MEA CULPA, YO.

But yes, what you say. It takes time away from the students and time away from family, and gah, crazy-making.

*hugs you again for good measure*

[perspi.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the hugs!

Anyway: Not gone yet. I have decided to wait til 3, when we're going to get Z up anyway, and then I can ask if she wants to come along. So I'm having some fake coffee and I paid some credit-card bills online while I'm waiting. It makes me feel better to think I'm being productive.

..maybe that's my problem! I don't feel like I've gotten enough done today? I was awake at 6, and I spent some time in the basement, cleaning and organizing the workout room, and trying (and failing miserably) the step-aerobics DVD, and I did a little bit with kettlebells to actually have more of a workout, and although I know I'll figure out the choreography of the step DVD eventually, today it was more...GAAAAH. :)

Anyway. Getting the grocery trip done will help, I think, and maybe too I'll clean something. I am just kind of...feeling weird, I guess. And thus I blather all over your LJ. *g*

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

:-D

You're always welcome to blather all over my LJ. And none of us are Ginger Rogers the first time. ;-)

[takes-a-fairy.livejournal.com]

Hey Perspi? Does your DVD player do slow motion? It's easier to follow the steps at first if it will play in slow motion.

[aries-ascendant.livejournal.com]

I'm feeling ridiculously melancholy about the little baby wrens.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, me too. Chango's lying on my foot, though, and that helps.

:-)

[warmdarkwoman.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry about the loss of the eggs. I was hoping you'd (and I'd, through you) get to see their development over the weeks.

I hope they (and you) try again.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Same here, on all counts. It was quite the shock to see the empty nest.

*hugs*

[takes-a-fairy.livejournal.com]

Wow, what a shock ND!
**HUGS**
I'm glad you left the nest alone so they can come back.

Having lived in Texas back in the mid 70's, and being a bit familiar with the critters there, my hunch is the rat did it.

having unborn babies coming in the family made me think about making a lame joke about empty nest syndrome, but chose not-hee

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Yep, it was a pretty big (unpleasant) surprise.

[bethbetter.livejournal.com]

:(

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

You said it.

[tx-cronopio.livejournal.com]

Well, drat. I was just thinking about your wren as I was driving home thru the country today.

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I gave Chango some extra hugs today. This is such a pisser.

:-(

[l-eremita.livejournal.com]

*HUGS*

I have such a heart of putty that I am giving you hugs because *I* need one!

The same thing happened to us last year when we had a robin's nest in our tree. We were all very upset.

But, I see the point of view of the poor rats and possums as well... As my mother wisely says during moments like this: "They are God's creatures too."

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

*HUGS*

I needed it too, I think. *g* I've felt pretty low and listless all day, and I think this is the cause.

Heh, I'm almost glad it's happened to someone else -- I'm not alone in missing some stupid birds. ;-)

[la-dame-du-lac.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

The same thing happened to the pigeon eggs on our balcony, and we're on the fourth floor! No egg, no shell, nothing. The only thing I could come up with is a crow stole the egg. Either that, or the ferrets out there can climb much higher than I though...

[nightdog-barks.livejournal.com]

Thank you, sweetie! It was just such a random thing, you know? Why this nest, why now? :-(

Poor pigeon eggs! It may have been a crow or a ferret ... heh, at least ferrets are much cuter than rats. *g*