It's For the Birds

Our backyard is slowly becoming the space that I dreamt of when we bought our house several years ago.  Just as any of the projects we had planned it is taking time to pull everything together but the progress we have made so far is rewarding.

One of the things I love most about our backyard is the variety of birds that we have visiting.  Robins, Cardinals, Red Wing Black Birds, Hummingbirds, the list goes on and on...we even have a pair of Morning Doves that enjoy our rooftop!

My particular favorite is the Momma Robin that has nested under our deck stairs for three years running now.  She picked the perfect spot for her babies, protected by our stairs from predators and the weather.  The girls get excited every spring when we see that there is a new batch of pretty blue eggs in the nest that we can peer through the deck cracks at to inspect.

Momma Robin is back in full force this year with a nest full of chirping little ones, with one major difference.

This year we have a dog.

Buster cant get any closer to the nest than we can on the deck, and really hasn't shown any interest in the chirps below his paws when he runs down the steps.

Momma Robin however has shown a major interest in Buster.

Momma Robin is convinced that Buster is the devil and is going to eat her babies.

For the last week or so I have been watching Momma Robin screech from the tree tops at Buster when he comes outside.  Buster cocks his little head, wags his tail and simply goes about his business.

The amusing part has started in the last couple of days.  Screeching is not getting Momma Robin her desired results and she has now started chasing Buster around the yard swooping in at him as she chatters her discontent.

Now as much as I recognize that she is protecting her babies as any good Momma does, I also recognize that my poor puppy needs to be able to do his business without being terrorized by a bird.  I have not come up with a solution to this dilemma yet , but I did manage to capture a couple of swoops on video:

Poor Buster!

So far (even though I have encouraged him to a couple of times) Buster has not retaliated.  My hopes were that he if he would chase her back a bit it may keep her at bay.  This plan failed because my puppy is too nice.

My fear is that Momma Robin will not return next year.  This is probably the best outcome for Buster, but it would be sad to not see those pretty blue eggs.