Cousins. . .

As grateful as I was to be able to move to KY, I knew that there were going to be things that I was going to miss when I left SoCal. Beyond the obvious things like family, good friends, our church and a job I loved, there was going to be this little guy.

I grew up watching for birds outside our window. My mom always had bird feeders around, so it was natural for me to grow attached to seeing him. 

This is a Black Phoebe. It is only in the Western US and if you see one outside your window it is probably the same one everyday, since they are territorial and solitary nesters, often remaining year-round in an established territory.

I knew that when we moved I would no longer get to enjoy watching him.

http://www.audubonbirds.org/species/Birds/Black-Phoebe.html

About a month after we moved into this house I started hearing a bird out on the front porch. We were sitting at dinner one night when I finally saw her. I grabbed the bird book to look her up and lo and behold. . . .

Meet the East Coast cousin of my little Black Phoebe. . .

the Eastern Phoebe.

 

http://www.greglasley.net/easternphoebe.html

Turns out all of the ruckus was her finding a place to build a nest! She decided that the transom above our front door would be a great spot. While we knew it would be messy, we couldn't help letting her finish and lay her eggs.

We had such a unique view, and got to watch throughout the day as she built her nest and then sat on the eggs.

A few weeks later they all hatched!

And the feeding began! She flew back and forth bringing them flies and bugs.

They started filling the nest to the top

And finally started overflowing. . .I swear there is a fifth bird in there!
 I think it was stuffed down into the middle.

I got up this morning and started working on this blog post. I realized that some of the pictures were still on my camera and as I walked through the living room to get it I couldn't believe what I witnessed!

I got to watch every little bird take its first flight from the nest, and

 I actually had my camera in my hand!!!

First one out!

Second one.

Number three.

Here are the last two.

Number four ( you can see the tail of number three).

The last one getting ready to take to the air!

Fifth and final flight!!! 

We now have an empty nest.

 I feel so blessed to have gotten to witness God's little gift from the first piece of moss

 to the very last flutter of wings.