Man vs. Nature

In the yearly battle of Husband vs. birds....Husbandry lost. :) He tried so hard to thwart the little buggers from nesting, yet again, in a basket of hanging flowers on the front porch. In the past we have bought baskets of impatiens. They are beautiful and full but have ample room within the basket to encourage nesting.

I, myself, love the impatiens hanging baskets. My Beloved rather favors the begonias- which are quite lovely as well. And seeing as I get to plant a row of impatiens just on the other side of the porch lining the driveway, it seemed rather selfish and hoggish to make all the annuals we buy impatiens. Last year we bought a mix - 1 basket of impatiens and 2 of begonias. But this year we made all 3 baskets begonias.

Mind you I was well aware there were ulterior motives to buying all begonias. If you have ever looked at begonia baskets you'll notice they are not very roomy near the dirt. They vine up rather tightly which was most definitely a ploy to strongly discourage any nesting.

Not a few days after we hung them up Kiersten points out the front window and sure enough those little Finch's are hopping from basket to basket with twigs in their mouths looking for just the right spot to grow their family. It was funny too because we watched him hop down in the basket and then the whole thing was jiggling as he tried to find a position with which to begin.

Well, to make an already long story short they managed to create their nest in exactly the same spot, regardless of which type of flower basket we put there. This will make year #4 they have put themselves to the basket just outside the front door. I will say this...they are persistent little buggers...and obviously creatures of habit!

Another year gone by, another battle lost. Birds 4: Beloved 0. Maybe next year, sweetie. :)