Score: Birds 1 - Humans 0

The boys and Sarah have been here for a long weekend which explains my absence on the blog ... too many other things to do. We had a great visit with them and I have a funny story to tell about Sarah and the birds. Unfortunately I don't have photos to share, it happened all too fast.

We were on bird watching duty all weekend, waiting to see if the eggs would hatch. Sarah was especially enamored with the whole situation. From a distance she kept peering into the bird house trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on inside. At one point she was sure she saw baby birds but after a second look wasn't so sure.

Sarah decided it would be a good idea to take a photo and thus set out to wait for the perfect time. She watched from the kitchen window for her chance. Finally she saw the mama bird fly from the nest. Grabbing her camera she took off outside to grab a shot or two. Inching ever so close she exclaimed "there's still a bird in here, I guess that was the daddy bird."

I really don't have any idea how the whole bird family thing works. I guess we didn't cover that in our homeschooling days. Does daddy bird fly back and forth bringing food home while mama sits on the eggs? Or maybe it's a role reversal thing where mama brings home the worm while daddy tends the nest? Or maybe it's two mama birds, sister wives, taking turns caring for the brood?

While Sarah went about her quest of shooting the birds (oh, that sounds bad doesn't it?) the rest of us were sitting around the kitchen table watching the budding photographer set up for the perfect photo. I made a comment "wouldn't it be funny if that bird flew out at her?" Not two seconds later we heard a blood curdling scream and watched Sarah sprint for the back porch. It all played out exactly as I had predicted.

I guess the mama bird thought the crazy girl with the camera was getting way too close and set out to defend her nest. She flew straight at Sarah, prepared to peck her eyes out. Ok, I'm just kidding with that part. She did fly out but did not appear to have damage-to-the-human on her mind. Not to mention, if you could only see these birds, you'd doubt their ability to do much harm. They're itty-bitty birds.

Regardless of her intent, whether it be to simply warn off the human, or to maim the crazy girl with the camera, she got instant results. Sarah ran for the house, screaming something about having escaped death. The rest of us .... we were ROTFLOL (Mother - that means rolling-on-the-floor-laughing-out-loud). Tears were streaming down my face as I was kicking myself for not having my camera on hand to capture the priceless moment.

For the rest of the weekend Sarah continued to watch from the safety of the kitchen window. For awhile there wasn't much movement at Casa el Pajaro but eventually she saw mama/papa bird return to flying to and from the nest so I'm assuming they weren't totally freaked out by the screaming human.

As for Sarah, she was pretty traumatized by the whole event. Good thing I didn't tell her how much birds like human hair. All that long thick hair would be a nest building bird's dream!

Meanwhile I'll keep you updated as to what's going on here  I am now officially on bird watching duty.