Birdhouse fun

Our eldest son made a birdhouse in industrial arts in 8th grade. It was more than just woodwork, they had to research birdhouses and birds and design one to fit a specific bird, writing a short report on the process. That was about three years ago. He brought the birdhouse home afterwards and we hung it in the main tree in our backyard, the only one we can easily see from our dining room.

He warned us that no birds would touch it for quite a while because it smelled like people (and varnish). So we've pretty much ignored it. It remained there during our year in Australia and we continued to ignore it when we came back. 

But in recent weeks we've seen action. Lots of action! We have residents. A pair of Parus Minors or Japanese Great Tits who appear to have chicks that have hatched inside. We don't know how many, but mum and dad are very busy. It's lovely to watch them darting in and out, especially during breakfast. They've very acrobatic, fast and hyper alert. That is, hard to take photos of!

Here's the best one I've managed.

Someone else with a high quality video camera (and probably more patience than I) took this short video:

Living in the supercity of Tokyo we aren't completely without wildlife, but there isn't too much that we see in our daily lives. Crows and pigeons are probably the most common birds. Cats and dogs. Cockroaches, mosquitoes, caterpillars, butterflies, ants, and cicadas are probably the most commonly seen. The latter being very noisy in later summer. Mosquitoes are very bothersome when it gets warmer, and not just at dusk, all day long.

So it's fantastic to have our own little nature show right outside our dining room window at the moment. I can't wait until we see some of the chicks start to emerge.