Quite a Surprise!

On my bucket list I've always wanted to have a garden and have never quite gotten around to it.  So this year I decided to go give it a go and start very small with only two plants -- cherry tomato and strawberries.  I could keep an eye on at least these, right?  Well, not really, but they have survived in spite of their gross neglect.  So proud of my hardy plants!

So yesterday I sheepishly went out to check out the plants, still in their plastic cases from Sam's Club right where I left them.  Good thing the SPCA does not have a sister organization dedicated to protecting plants!  Well, lo and behold, the tomato plant actually has a red tomato on it as well as a few green ones to boot.  Wow!  Miracles do happen, folks!  I even replanted it.

On a roll I sauntered on over to check out the strawberry plant and take off its many dead leaves.  Here it is:

OK, I'll 'fess up!  Here it is from the other side still with its sign from Sam's Club.

So as I checked out the plant, I noticed a lot of loose twigs on the  the dirt.  Strange.  Strawberry plants don't make twigs.  That much I do know!  Upon peering closer, I noticed a distinct hole in the ground, right below the yellow leaf in the center of the photo below.  Weird!

I looked even closer and thought I saw what looked like some blueberries clustered together.  Strange!

Then when I timidly pulled the leaves aside, I realized it was a NEST in there!  The little blueberries had little yellow beaks and were MOVING around a teeny tiny bit!  Aaaaaaah!  I didn't know whether to be happy, scared, or violated!  OK, I was trying to digest it all -- there was a birds' nest in my strawberry plant filled with newborn baby birds!  

Now that is about the last thing I ever expected to see out there!  It was right up there with finding a mound of snow in 90 degree heat. So I kept peeking at them trying to figure out what the heck to do.  Nothing, I figured.  Nature definitely knows what it's doing without me bumbling around. Wait -- get the camera!  It was so light outside and dark inside the nest it was hard to get any good shots, but these are the best ones!

Feeling like a giant-sized voyeur, I was terrified Mama Bird was going to come home and peck my eyes out for rustling around near her beloved babies.  I kept thinking of that Alfred Hitchcock horror movie "The Birds" when birds viciously attack people for no reason, and this bird had a reason for sure to go after me.  You see, I don't think she would take into consideration that it was my strawberry plant she chose to occupy in the first place.  Squatters rights, baby!  There's that phrase "possession is nine tenths of the law," right?

Apparently I had abandoned my claim for too long...  You snooze, you lose, and you may end up with baby birds hatching in your strawberries!   So I kept snapping away nervously.  Hey, it was my plant after all.

First thing this morning I checked on the teeny-tiny bunch, and they were still there doing their thing, moving around a bit.  I couldn't believe how much they had already grown since yesterday -- amazing!  Mom was still out.  Who knows?  Maybe there's was big sale on bird seed somewhere and she had to wait in a long line.

Then again she could be back by now-- there has been a small bird chirping nonstop on the porch railing while I've been writing this, probably warning the world to back off and stay away from her babies.  Hope she doesn't mind if I come out again.  I forgot to look and see if there are any strawberries!


LibbY