the first egg hatched!!!!

Lesser Goldfinches: male feeding female on nest!

This afternoon marked 12 days since we first saw the goldfinches and their nest outside our classroom window! The bird books say the incubation period is 12 days, but I don't know if the first egg hatches after 12 days or if it's 12 days from when the clutch is complete. Today I snapped three pictures of the male feeding the female, and they're much clearer than the one I got before!

Last week we watched the female stand up in her nest and move the eggs around with her head several times, and the kids really enjoyed watching her and writing about it and all the feeding behaviors. It's so much fun to have our own viewing platform to observe nesting behavior from!

peeking at the nest

I bought a finch sock full of thistle seed today and hung it in the tree next to the nesting spot. I wondered how long it would take for the goldfinches to find it, and was rewarded by a student letting me know pretty quickly that there was a goldfinch feeding on the sock! It's so nice when things go so well!

Today my baby is flying from the nest in Chico all the way to Chicago to go back to college. He's done a lot of hard work and growing up in the year that he's been home, so it seems right that he should be ready to go on with his life and his education. But I'm sad, I'll be missing him. He's a very loving person, and he's my baby. My nest will be empty, but that's as it should be. Launching is an important part of parenting. And he is planning to come back!

daddy goldfinch feeding mama goldfinch

It's so hard to teach and catch a picture of this! She starts twittering when he's around, and then the kids at the viewing platform squeal when he swoops down to feed her! At first some of the kids thought they were kissing! I hope to borrow a camera to get some video footage of this!

more miracles

By Friday morning the kids were thrilled that there were four eggs in the nest, and the students at our 'bird viewing platform' would squeal with delight when the male goldfinch would swoop down to the nest and gently feed thistle seeds to the female. Of course, in our classroom the kids keep calling them the mama bird and the daddy bird, it's hard not to! Any parent or teacher that comes in the classroom is treated to a tour of our 'bird viewing platform' and a detailed explanation of all of the bird behavior we've observed so far! The kids love it, and they recruit students at recess to come in for tours too!

Over the weekend it was very windy with a bit of rain, and several staff members worried over the little birds and their nest. One said she was thinking of trying to go hang something to protect it. I was worried about the wild cats that have litters under portables every spring, as the nest is very close to the ground...okay, I'm still worried about that. Several people have said I should put wire around the base of the tree to keep cats out, but it's a delicate balance trying to figure out how not to disturb the nesting birds.

Our Principal put locks on the gates on either end to try to protect the nest, but everyone has a key, and this morning one of the district maintenance guys went back there with a weed whacker and took down all the food source for the birds. I ran out to talk with him, asking him if we could skip the mowing for a month or so, and he said, don't worry, we only do it once a year, and we'll be spraying it tonight. I hope the spray doesn't hurt the birds or the nest, as I had no luck in stopping it. I figure I'll have to go buy some thistle seed and a feeder so that the pair stays well fed since the vegetation is gone.

I wanted to go to school to take more pictures yesterday, but I was afraid of finding a tragedy. I know it's the natural order of things, and lots of eggs and baby birds don't make it, but this is my miracle right now, and I really need it. I was thrilled to find them safe and sound this morning, and the kids were overjoyed when the mama bird returned to her nest after the weed whacker left. Then the daddy bird came and feed her while she kept the eggs warm. I might get to be a goldfinch gramma yet!

goldfinches at my window

I was alone in my classroom at lunch when the grief of missing Katie descended. She came home for the last time at the end of this week for her spring break, five long years ago. This is the time of year my heart reaches for her to come home. These days represent the last times we were together as a family, complete. They were fragmented and unintentional times, lots of kids coming and going, and me going to work. Just normal chaotic family life, no one knew this was it, the end of something special.

My computer wasn't working, so I couldn't write anyone. I called Gabe and Jason to hear their voices and tell them I love them, and that was good. Then over the roar of the OSHA approved air exchanger that runs all day to keep the air in our portable classroom safe (safe from what I don't know) I heard the call of a bird. I went to the window near the road and slid it open to see if I could hear it better, and noticed several Lesser Goldfinches perching on the cyclone fencing just a few feet from the window. They were ruffling their feathers and twittering to each other and eating the flowering tops of the weeds. They continued to fly around and chirp, amazing me with their bright greenish-yellow breasts.

When my students came in from lunch, they were delighted to watch the tiny finches and excited by their flashy yellow bellies. The kids gathered at the window and helped point out the little birds to each other. Suddenly, one child said, there's a nest! When I asked him to describe where, I saw it, low in the crotch of a paper birch tree, and one of the little birds settled into it like it belonged to her. Finally we went on with our day, but after the next recess we spent a few minutes bird watching again. After school, Debbie came over to look out our window too, and decided to go outside and check out the nest. There's an egg in it! A tiny egg! Tomorrow I'm going to try to get some pictures.