I was terribly frightened yesterday when I stepped out of the door to my house and had a wild bird swoop right past the side of my head! The first thing I thought was "that was weird, I wonder why that bird was under my porch?" Outside of our door we have a concrete covered porch, we keep a few items out there, we also like to sit there on the patio chairs. The porch is an open, yet sheltered area. Needless to say, I've never had a bird that close to me out there.

While playing outdoors with my children yesterday evening, I noticed a plump robin hopping around on the grass. I couldn't help but watch the bird that looked to be gathering materials to build a nest. I enjoy bird watching and found it amazing how the robin was searching for the right pieces of straw to scoop up in his beak. I did not happen to see where that robin headed with his material filled beak.

This morning I did my usual, let the dogs out, then I took a seat on a patio chair to enjoy the birds, sunshine and my coffee. I was looking around at all of the leaves that had accumulated on the porch, and then noticed straw, bark and long brown grass. I thought right away about the robin that had been collecting straw and wondered if these items on the porch were things he had dropped. I investigated further and found a nest being built on the top of a metal ladder that I had been using to take down Christmas lights. The ladder was leaning against our house and is under the porch.

My husband and I realize that we are now helping to house a bird habitat, which is cool. We will be leaving the ladder where it sits until the bird is through nesting there this fall. From this point on, each time I exit that door of our house I am watching my head, and trying not to be startled by our new friend, the robin.