"And here again is a foreshadowing -- the world will be made whole."
~ Marilynne Robinson, Housekeeping
A week ago, having insistently been made aware of what I thought was a house sparrow zipping away from the porch each time the screen door slammed, I finally investigated the gutters for the nest which had to be there.
It had been carefully constructed in a hanging basket of geraniums.
Last night, my google image research convinced me that the birds are house finches ~ the eggs are too blue and too lightly speckled to pass muster as those of house sparrows. Male house finches are splashed with red, so if the father shows up ~ and I presume he will if all six eggs hatch, as there will be plenty of work to occupy both parents ~ I will have a definitive identification.
My grandmother maintained a small museum of birds' nests, which she used to present to school groups and classes whenever she was invited to share her store of avian knowledge. For several summers, a pair of wrens nested in her clothespin bag.
I have become my grandmother! Not a bad fate.
