Poor Sophie

Update on the phoebe family living on our front porch. Yesterday I came home and snuck a peek at the nest full of fuzzy baby birds only to notice that they were no longer moving. I got a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach but tried to tell myself that perhaps they were taking a much needed nap. After all, my little munchkins can sleep pretty deeply during their naptimes in the middle of the day. Still I couldn't shake the gnawing feeling that something was wrong.

Flashback to the day before, mommy and daddy bird were practically frantic the entire morning...racing back and forth darting after bugs and high tailing it back to the nest. The babies were singing their sweet little hungry tweets in unison "Mommy! Daddy! We're hungry!" Awwww! Every time I heard the chorus of chirping as I walked down my hallway I would melt at the cuteness of it all. "And I thought feeding twins was exhausting! These parents have quads!" I thought to myself as I went about my daily routine. How sweet!

Later in the day yesterday as I peered through my living room window at the nest, still no movement. Worry, worry, worry...I'm good at that you know. A year and a half of being a momma and already I'm an expert. Finally, I see one little bird move! Hurray! Signs of life! Only still today when I peek at the nest (from a distance of course) I can spot only two baby birds moving...the other two remain in place, just as they were yesterday. I explained the sad news to my mom, an avid birdwatcher who happens to have volumes of information about all kinds of birds tucked away in her pretty little head, and she explained to me matter-of-factly that this is common in the bird world. Babies often don't make it. Aw shucks!

I'm sad to say that the parents' best efforts to feed the babies probably wasn't enough for the nest full of four birds. Was this Sophie's choice? Did they have to decide which babies ate and which went hungry to guarantee that some would survive? Or did the stronger of the babies just happen to make it through the lean times? I hope it was the latter. I can't shake that sad feeling that not all the little fuzzballs in that nest have made it and there's no promise the remaining ones will either. Gone are my visions of four fluffy little birds fluttering out of the nest to make it on their own! Ahhhh, nature is cold and cruel sometimes! For now I'm still sad for poor Sophie!