Watch the birdie - something's missing

I knew something was strange. I hadn't seen my birds around lately, nor had I heard them.

I have been detailing my journey through nature for about a month now, ever since I discovered two birds had built a nest in a flower wreath arrangement we have hanging by our front door.

However, when I went out for my weekly progress check ... nothing. No birds, no eggs.

And, I have no idea what happened.

At the end of March, there were four eggs in the nest. Now, there is nothing, not even any broken egg shells to let me know whether they ever hatched and no evidence the eggs might have somehow fallen from the nest. It's as if they never existed.

It's a complete mystery, and a sad one at that. Not that I am some huge animal lover or tree hugger, but I was really hoping to see nature run its course right on my front porch.

Now, I am left with disappointment.

I don't think a predator could have gotten to them where they were at, and I think had the eggs hatched, I would have at least heard the baby birds chirping before they developed the ability to fly.

My only hope is that somehow mom and dad managed to lift the eggs with their feet and simply moved them to a different location.

I don't know that I have ever heard of that, but I'd like to think that's what my birds did.

On a side note, I do appreciate all the feedback everyone has been providing. I did hear from S. Chris Dewitt at the Croatan National Forest office, who informed me that a Bob Kaylor had identified the bird as a purple finch.

I looked up some stuff on the Web site All About Birds and it seems to make sense. My picture matches those shown on the site.

What makes me even sadder about what happened to my birds is a note on the Web site about purple finches. It says their numbers are declining.

Somehow, I hope my four managed to make it. 

Ken Buday is the editor of the Havelock News.