The Daddy-Oh Bird

Yes, j has picked up on exactly what the role of his father is in this house.

My computer sits in the corner of my scrapbook space in our family room. To my immediate right is a large window that looks down our driveway and across our front yard. There are two large (taller than the house) trees that shade my window almost completely hiding it from outside viewing. I love this spot. On a sunny day, the window lets in plenty of light for me to work without electric lights. While the limbs on the trees hang low enough that people outside don’t notice me sitting at my desk…I can look between the branches and see what’s going on outside.

About two weeks ago I happened to think how perfect “my trees” would be for a bird nest. Sure enough about a week ago I noticed a bird family had moved in. The nest is situated so that it’s on a low branch and I have 24/7 All Birdie TV going on right outside my window! It’s so cool!

I have been birdie watching from my window seat for days now. Yesterday I suspected by the way the mother bird was hanging close that there might be some eggs in the nest. Sure enough, in the afternoon, Moma Birdie flew around the nest with a worm dangling from her beak and two little upturned beaks appeared from the deep part of the nest. That’s about all I can see from my spot--just their little tiny beaks. If nothing else is making noise around me, I can hear tiny little squeaks too.

Isn’t that how babies are? Always squeaking when they are hungry! I can relate to that, Moma Bird. I can surely relate.

I knew j would love this! So in the evening, I showed j the nest thru my window…and threatened his supply of stickers if he dared disturb the birdie family. He’s not allowed in the front yard anyway, but it never hurts to be clear with him. We watched the nest for a while and talked about birds and God and families. It was very sweet.

At one point, j asks: “What do birds eat?”

“Worms and bugs” I said.

“Ewww” he said. “That’s worse than beans.”

This morning, just after we got up, j came downstairs into my corner and looked out the window. “Good morning, little birdies.” he said, in a groggy but cheery little voice. He continued to watch for a while and soon another bird flew into the area of the nest. This second bird perched on a branch right beside the nest and was poking at the nest with its beak. We watched intently. Finally, j says “I think that’s the Daddy-Oh Birdie.”

Um, “Daddy-O”. There’s a term I’ve never heard him use. Especially not in relation to birds. I asked him to explain.

“There’s the Moma Bird. She feeds the babies.” he said pointing to the bird we have seen before. “The Baby birdies are in the nest. We can’t see them. They are tiny.”

I nodded.

He continued “And that birdie over there is the Daddy-Oh Bird. He’s working on the nest.”

OK, so that’s the Daddy-Oh Bird. Gotcha. The Daddy is identified by his home repair skills. Interesting.

And wow. I was a little surprised at the crispness and clarity with which j realized the roles of the bird family members, just like the roles of our family members. The mom cares for the babies. The Daddy-Oh makes repairs to the nest.

So, he has been paying attention…even when I wasn’t.