THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, May 6, 1996 TAG: 9605060130
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Guy Friddell
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
Traci Albert put up on her front door six weeks ago a decorative triangle of three sticks with silk flowers and a nest of Spanish moss in one corner with a fake bird standing guard over the lot.
A pair of real birds, wren-like, built a nest within the moss.
Homesteaders!
The two birds are raising four fledglings, which hatched a few days ago, and the Alberts - Traci, her husband Chuck and their son Chad, 9, - are using the side door of their home in Virginia Beach's Courthouse Estates.
The brownish mother bird, just her tilted tail and head visible when she's in the nest, flies at any human's approach.
A protective red ribbon, stretched across the step railings, bears a sign requesting do not disturb the bird.
And the fake bird still stands guard, side by side with the mother in the nest.
Inside the house, through the front-door peep hole, the Alberts can peer into the nest three inches away.
``It's a bird's-eye view,'' Traci said.
``The father bird comes and feeds the mother and she, in turn, feeds the young.
``He doesn't warm the young, but he will feed them if she happens to be away.
``He comes and goes and sits in a tree nearby and chirps to her and they talk back and forth,'' she said.
What does the mother feed the young?
``She regurgitates a milky-like substance,'' said Traci, who has become, through close study, an expert.
``In the afternoon,'' she said, ``when the sun is shining on the door, the mother bird will leave the nest for a brief time, as if, since they are warm, she can have a few minutes to herself.''
One day, one of the four fledglings fell from the nest.
``Somehow, the mother's foot caught the fledging and it tumbled out,'' she said.
``I picked it up in a piece of tissue and put it back in the nest and prayed the mother would return and began feeding all four.
``She did, but it was a panicky time for me and her.''
She has two questions.
``How much longer will they be taking up residence at my front door, rent free?
``And will they return next year?''
I hadn't the heart to tell her, then, that some birds raise two or three broods in a single season. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by RICHARD L. DUNSTON\The Virginian-Pilot
A fake bird, left, stands guard as a real one raises four fledglings
in a decoration on a Virginia Beach family's door.
by CNB