We Have A House Guest

We noticed this week that a bird has been building a nest in one of the hanging plant baskets on our porch.

This basket hangs just outside a large window on the small, triangular deck between our "new room" and the garage. The plant in the basket had pretty white flowers when I bought it. They have faded since then, but with an avian home in the basket I don't feel that I can replace it.

It looks rather like an enclosed sort of nest. I can't tell if there are any eggs in there. And, as far as I can tell, there is only one bird.

The bird is small, with a long, thin beak. It often stands perched on the wrought-iron-like metal hanger that juts out from the house; or on the edge of the garage roof, across the deck; or up on the peak of our roof. It stands there and squawks. I’m not sure if it is singing, trying to attract a mate, or yelling curses at us for disturbing its nest by looking too closely.

This bird is driving Mocha, our younger cat, crazy. She takes up watch on the bench that sits inside the house under this window and stares intently out at the bird. If we open the window, she scrambles up the screen to the level of the nest.

Poor Mocha, she is convinced that she must eat this bird. I understand; that is her job. But I don't think we can alow that.

I wonder if this is the same bird that used to sit on a large bush just outside of the bay window in the living room. It would sit there, not two feet away from the cat, but separated by a screen and glass, singing away to taunt the cat.

I don’t know birds, so I can’t tell what sort this is. Is there such a thing as a sadist-bird?

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• bird
• nest
• cat
• house