{"id":162973,"date":"2025-05-04T13:27:45","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T17:27:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/triciatierneyblog.com\/?p=162973"},"modified":"2025-05-04T13:27:48","modified_gmt":"2025-05-04T17:27:48","slug":"a-robins-nest-and-my-bout-of-nimby","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/triciatierneyblog.com\/?p=162973","title":{"rendered":"A Robin’s Nest – and my bout of NIMBY"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A robin built a nest on my front porch and I\u2019m not thrilled. I know, I know! I feed the birds all winter, keep the bird bath clean and full and yet here I am getting all NIMBY when it comes to sharing my space. I was thrilled to see a local osprey fly off with one of the branches I’d collected from my recently downed oak tree imagining it’s new life as baby bird home. But when my feathered friend chooses my sweet porch to build in, well, I wasn’t happy. A little too close? What kind of hypocrisy is this? I have reflected on and chastised myself for this poor attitude. I don\u2019t offer the following as a defense, simply an explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the warmer days, I get to expand my living space outside and I\u2019ve been busy cleaning up. The front porch is my favorite spot to drink my tea in the morning, ponder the yard and life. And now, I feel thwarted. I had my chance and confess, I considered removing the nest when I saw the beginnings of grass stuck in the corner space right above the pillar next to where my laundry line begins. I really thought about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Momma Robin won. I did not touch the nest. This morning I watched her fly back and forth, beak full of damp leaves or wads of earth and now bits of dropped flotsam litter the area. After depositing her load into the nest, she hops in, shimmying down with a fluff of feathers to make sure it\u2019s just right. Within a few days she\u2019s woven the messy strands of straw into a formidable little home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong – I love birds and respect a nest. I\u2019ll skip whole sections when pruning my privet hedge at the slightest suspicion there\u2019s someone nesting. When cardinals settled in to raise their babies in between the branches of a rose against the breezeway windows, we tiptoed passed for weeks. But this spot is my Grand Central. I am always in and out and live<\/em> out here as soon as the weather warms. I hang my laundry off the line at least once a week. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m not sure how to navigate now. Do I not use the porch? I want her to feel safe and comfortable raising her babies here. I\u2019ll have to figure it out and so will momma Robin. She still takes off when she sees me in the window. So now I’m a little worried I didn’t make her feel welcome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I looked it up – incubation period is about 2 weeks and another 2 for the babies to move out. Did you know that most bird nests are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA)? Don\u2019t tell our current administration about this though – God forbid that any vulnerable living thing be protected. That law will go the way of all the other protective legislature if the emperor gets wind of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What an opportunity to recognize and work on myself. I left the nest alone. I obeyed the good law. I’ll love my neighbor. Now I\u2019ll settle in do my best to practice this lesson on living my life with integrity from the best teacher ever: nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Support our National Parks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/ourparks.org\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A robin built a nest on my front porch and I\u2019m not thrilled. I know, I know! I feed the birds all winter, keep the bird bath clean and full and yet here I am getting all NIMBY when it comes to sharing my space. I was thrilled to see a local osprey fly off … Continue reading A Robin’s Nest – and my bout of NIMBY<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[25,12,358,360,359],"class_list":["post-162973","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-motherhood","tag-nature","tag-nests","tag-nimby","tag-porch"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pPzTS-GoB","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/triciatierneyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162973","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/triciatierneyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/triciatierneyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/triciatierneyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/triciatierneyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=162973"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/triciatierneyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162973\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":162975,"href":"http:\/\/triciatierneyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162973\/revisions\/162975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/triciatierneyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=162973"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/triciatierneyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=162973"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/triciatierneyblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=162973"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}