Well, nature is cruel sometimes. Last Tuesday I got to my store and as usual, brought out water to water the hanging flower pots, one of which had the nest with 4 eggs and a cowbird hatchling.
I peek at it to make sure I don't pour water directly into the nest and the cowbird baby was gone! I didn't see it directly below on the porch and assumed it was snatched by another bird.
My son was helping out with the store that day and found it later, at the other end of the porch. It was long since dead.
So I kept an eye on the nest but the finch parents never returned. (they always returned after I watered the flowers) It had been too many days to get the eggs and try and hatch them so I left them alone.
I'm sad but that's the way it is in nature. Sometimes it seems cruel but there's an order to it.
But...we have a young Morning Dove outside our kitchen window! We have Doves nest every year and this year I'm not sure where they were but could hear them. The other day I looked outside and saw the young one. It looked big but I could tell it was the young one by the color of it's feathers. And momma came and fed it! I think it's learning to fly because it was gone several times and returned.
My dream is to have a cabin in the woods where I can sit on the deck and observe nature. Not just the birds but all of it! Except the spiders. They can go play somewhere else...LOL.