His Eye is on the Sparrow*

The wind has been unusually gusty here in Austin the last few days, and when I took Lucy outside late Thursday night, I noticed what looked like a bird's nest overturned on our porch. Right beside it where 4 small, red speckled eggs. We didn't really know what to do -- we wanted to be very careful with the eggs, but didn't think there was much chance of the mama coming back for them. So Tommy used a towel to scoop the eggs back into the nest, and we put it on the seat of the Adirondack chair.

The next morning when Tommy went outside with Lucy, the mama bird was in the nest! She has been taking great care of her little babies, and we see the daddy come by every once in a while. The next step is to find some way to protect the eggs from prowling cats when they hatch (not Franklin, who is completely oblivious to the fact that there is a bird a few feet away from him). We're thinking of a chicken-wire cover with a hole for the mama to get in and out, but if anyone has any better ideas, let us know!

The mama bird doesn't have a name yet, but I'm sure John will come up with something soon!

*The title was "Mama Bird" but then we heard a very pretty duet of this song on Prairie Home Companion during our drive home, and decided to change it.