Going to the birds

A couple of months ago (read: springtime) I heard some unusual noises coming from the front door. Rustling, clicking and whatnot. The couch where I watch TV is very close to the front door and I heard the noises when I was watching TV during the day. Being deathly afraid of insects (see this post for a reminder), every time I heard the noises, I would mute the TV and check the front door for six-legged intruders. This went on for a few weeks and I never did spot any unwelcome visitors trying to sneak inside.

In May, right before leaving on my trip, my car's battery decided to die (second time in a month).

While milling around my entry way waiting for the tow truck driver to load up my car, I finally discovered the source of the sounds. I wasn't looking for six-legged intruders - I was looking for two-legged intruders!

Do you see the source of the problem? Don't feel bad if you don't - I missed it for weeks, too.

See it now? Right - it's a nest. A bird's nest. The cheeky mama bird took the "welcome" in my welcome sign a bit too far and made her babies' bower inside my wreath.

I had my a-ha moment and then promptly lost interest because I was about to hitch a ride with the tow truck driver to my auto shop to then hitch a ride to the airport with the son of the auto shop's owner to then jet off to Europe.

After returning home from my European adventures, I had the pleasure of dealing with mama bird's defensive maneuvers every time I came or went from my front door. While she never directly dive bombed me, she did take wing and zoom across the driveway to the nearest tree to wait out my presence before returning to her babies.

Once the babies hatched, I was serenaded by the cheeping and rustling of the babies versus the nest-building noises associated with mama bird.

All the noises stopped a few weeks ago.

I was kind of dreading this moment because birds are filthy, filthy creatures and I really wasn't looking forward to removing the nest and dealing with whatever was left behind.

Apparently today was the day to do the deed.

After returning home from work this evening, I tugged the wreath off the door - it was pretty well stuck - and found this.

Eww!

After scraping at the protrusions, I was left with this.

Better. But still truly gross. Even if I put the wreath back up and hid the evidence of hatching and feeding and pooping, I'd know this filth was just sitting on the door and I'd feel squicky every time I saw it.

If you are interested, this is what the nest looked like from the back.

I found an abrasive sponge that I didn't mind throwing away, tugged on some rubber gloves and began scrubbing. After much scrubba-scrubba-scrubba, the door looked like this.

Not bad! There were some stubborn spots but I did the best I could. It's good enough that I won't feel uncomfortable every time I see the door.

Once I replaced the wreath, all was well.

Of course, there's still this nest over the floodlight on the garage.

I refuse to do anything about this one on the grounds that it was there when I moved in and should be the responsibility of the landlords since this nest was built on their watch.

I suppose the lesson learned is that next year I must remove the welcome wreath during the spring season so as to make my home UN-welcome to nesting mamas.

Q.E.D.