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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Would You Look At That

Would You Look At That

by | 78 Comments

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A couple weeks ago I bought a bunch of ferns for my front porch- I believe I showed you them before- here’s the picture:

First off, jeebus that seems like another lifetime ago and it was only a couple weeks. Since then everything has just gone crazy- Lily got cancer, I got a flat on one of my trips to Pittsburgh and had to replace all my tires because I don’t fucking know why but apparently the one couldn’t be replaced and my tires were to the point where they said it made more sense to replace them all, part of the deck had to be reconstructed, etc. Everything went to shit right quick.

At any rate, the ferns were super cheap= five bucks a piece, because they were damaged and they all had a side of them that was dead. So I was taking them down today to water them and trim off some of the dead stuff, and look what I found:

I have no idea what kind of bird egg that is but four seems like a lot, right?

Reader Interactions

78Comments

  2. 2.

    opiejeanne

    WE had similar eggs in a little nest last year, but they only got to three before the crows got them. Such a disappointment.
    Ours were a tiny gray and brown bird with a couple of white stripes in their tails.

  5. 5.

    Olivia

    We have purple finches that build nests in our hanging planters and the eggs are about that color. They have a really pretty song.

  6. 6.

    les

    They’re obviously the greenish kind. And the flying pests around here (KCMO) often seem to go 4 or more. The kind that like short trees and bushes, so you can count them, anyway.

  8. 8.

    debbie

    The nest looked tiny enough to be hummingbirds, but Google tells me their nests are the siza of a quarter.

  10. 10.

    PsiFighter37

    @zhena gogolia: Trump won’t quit unless it saves him from going to jail. The GOP won’t impeach him, and he doesn’t have enough shame to leave on his own volition.

  13. 13.

    geg6

    Could be robin eggs maybe.

    I do not see your ferns in the house picture. They aren’t hanging off the porch and I don’t see them in the landscape. What am I missing here?

  20. 20.

    Steve in the ATL

    On a related note, is anyone missing half a chipmunk?

    When I was scooping dog poop in the backyard this morning I found the bottom half a chipmunk; no sign of the top half. Maybe it’s part of a scavenger hunt.

  21. 21.

    Duckpocalypse

    I want to say Robin or bluebird, but without getting a whole lot closer…

  24. 24.

    Steve in the ATL

    @chopper: it’s usually the the result of collusion at our house. The cat catches, kills, and defenestrates the creature, then the golden retriever eats part of it but prefers to rolls around in the guts. I blame Putin.

  25. 25.

    Corner Stone

    I can’t understand maybe 60% of the dialogue in the Matt Damon movie Elysium. It sounds like they all took yooge bites of pie and then started shouting at one another.

  28. 28.

    RepubAnon

    Here’s a link about tire replacement on all wheel-drive vehicles. The consensus seems to be that the differential can have issues if the tires are of different diameters.

    Regarding the eggs – hummingbird nests are very small – about 1″ in diameter. Triffid seeds are more like dandelion seeds, so you’re safe there.

    Regarding Trump – I’d guess that if the midterms go the Democrats’ way in a Blue Wave, the Republicans will desert Trump like the rats they are. This is especially true if the Trump base gets reduced to the hard-core racists, and anti-Trump Republicans are the only ones that win.

    If that happens, I’d expect Trump would resign after pardoning himself, or force Pence to do so after Trump resigns. It’s Trump’s typical pattern: make big promises, bully folks who are stuck and can’t extract themselves, run things into the ground, file bankruptcy, and blame others for his own failings.

    If the Republicans can hold onto Congress, however, or narrowly lose, Trump will stay on. This is especially true if only the true Trumpistas get reelected while the anti-Trumpers get replaced by Democrats. (Sort of like the Blue Dog Democrat vs Republican thing – why vote for Republican Lite?)

  29. 29.

    JPL

    @Steve in the ATL: haha Finch would love to finish the feast, but the beast instead destroyed a nest like John’s nest last week.
    The eggs are probably house finches or house swallows. Swallows tend to be more speckled though. The only reason I know this is because it’s the second year of a failed nest. The first being inside of my watering can.

  30. 30.

    jl

    If they start to swell up and the top gets translucent and you see a kind of scorpion thing wriggling around in the bottom, then its an Alien egg.
    Since everything’s gone to shit anyway, you might as well gawk into it for a while and see if you can get a video for us.
    Thanks in advance.

    The garden looks good. Nice daffodils. thanks.
    But I don’t see any ferns on the pic of the front porch.

  32. 32.

    Mary G

    This tweetstorm by Ian Millhiser arguing that the Democrats have to go big or go home if they can take the presidency and Congress in 2020 – nuke the filibuster and enact a New New Deal with 70% top tax bracket and redistribution in income support, healthcare, etc. If they don’t, they will just get overwhelmed by so much money the Republicans can throw into elections. Kind of scary, because I agree that they should, but doubt that they will:

    1) This is a really excellent @JedediahSPurdy essay arguing that the many authors warning about how democracy is in a period of global decline are not ambitious enough in offering solutions. https://t.co/E6kP6Levw3— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) May 4, 2018

  34. 34.

    mainmata

    We have mockingbirds that nest in bushes at our farm in the Shenandoah Valley, which is 17 miles from West VA. Also same color and size so maybe you have a bird with a really interesting call.

  35. 35.

    NotMax

    Query for the jackaltariat.

    Mom’s porch (top floor of a three story building) has squirrel(s) that love to visit it from the huge pine trees at both sides and dig up the soil in her plants, leaving behind a mess. Thoughts on discouraging that behavior?

    So far moth balls, neem oil and even putting weighted down screening on top of the dirt have not worked.

  40. 40.

    ruemara

    @Mary G: He’s not wrong. we have to have a radical restructuring and the republicans will not do anything to help Dems. Their entire focus will be undermining us & aiming to retake power & continue to destroy democracy.

    Those look like robin’s eggs, but I’m lucky to recognize that it’s not a chicken.

  45. 45.

    scav

    @NotMax: Some suggest capsicum. Haven’t tried it yet, but we’re hoping it will have a similar effect upon the raccoons leaving little paw-prints on the second floor windows. Pines play a similar role in our drama as well.

  48. 48.

    Roger Moore

    @RepubAnon:
    Trump may resign and have Pence pardon him- or try pardoning himself and see how it shakes out in court- but I don’t think it will do him or the Republican Party much good. The Democrats will be in position to investigate, and they’ll have every motive to investigate as thoroughly as possible. We all know there’s plenty of wrongdoing to send every major figure in the Republican Party to prison for a good long time, and some of it is going to be violations of state laws were a Presidential pardon won’t help. I’m sure one of the people who will turn out to be deep in the worst of it will be Mike Pence, and his feigned ignorance won’t work when Adam Schiff is investigating him.

  49. 49.

    Delia

    @scav: Peppermint works on spiders, ants, and mice. I don’t know about squirrels. Dogs discourage squirrels, but they have their own issues with plants, of course.

  53. 53.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Mary G:

    the Democrats have to go big or go home

    Then the Democrats will have to be prepared to go to war with the media, because the media will frame the debate in Republican terms.

  58. 58.

    NotMax

    @Aleta

    Yup, just ducky. Different island.

    What are they burying? Dunno but presume seeds from the pine cones and related types of yummies in season. Beautiful trees, 5 or 6 stories high. Tower over her three story building.

  59. 59.

    gene108

    @Mary G:

    Democrats are damned if they do or damned if they don’t.

    They don’t gut the filibuster they are stuck with Republican obstruction.

    If they gut the filibuster, then whatever they enact better be beyond fool proof and make everyone happy, because the tiniest problem will be used to hammer Democrats. Obama said, if you like your insurance you can keep, and then Obamacare rolled out and insurance companies canceled policies that were non-ACA compliant and it was all Obama’s fault for lying.

  62. 62.

    CliosFanBoyNeeWoodrowfan

    robin eggs are blue. those are not blue. so it’s a mutant robin. QED

  65. 65.

    Thoughtful David

    They’re House Finch eggs. Based on size, nest shape. And the fact that House Finches love to make nests in hanging ferns on people’s porches.
    Look for the hen–brown and streaky, finch bill. Her boyfriend will have red on his head and upper breast, otherwise brown and streaky.

  66. 66.

    opiejeanne

    @trollhattan: These were blue-greenish with speckles. We saw the parents and don’t know what they were aside from tiny gray and brown birds with a little white on their tails.

    bird nest

  68. 68.

    Drunkenhausfrau

    Robin, based on how well constructed nest is. I have many on my home. The other birds adopt the nests, cuz they’re so sturdy.

  69. 69.

    Albatrossity

    House Finch (Carpodacus mexicanus). Right size and color for the eggs, nest looks like a finch nest, and House Finches commonly nest in hanging plants near houses

  70. 70.

    Atticus Dogsbody

    Those are the eggs of the Eastern Blood-soaked Warbler. Mama is watching you right now.

  71. 71.

    No One You Know

    @NotMax: Red pepper, flakes and ground. Won’t hurt anything permanently, just guarantee a couple of uncomfortable minutes.

  73. 73.

    dww44

    @NotMax:I’ve had issues with squirrels digging up pots for years. Two things seem to work for me, periodically sprinkling red pepper flakes on the soil and purchasing a “Critter Ridder” spray from Lowe’s.

  77. 77.

    Nancy

    @NotMax: I live in a neighborhood that has an abundance of squirrels. The one neighbor who has a successful garden with untouched tomatoes told me to plant garlic with the tomatoes. The squirrels don’t like garlic. Hope your mother does.

  78. 78.

    Nancy

    @scav: I tried hot peppers sauce and killed my tomatoes–but the squirrels didn’t eat the fruit before the plants died.
    Destroy the village to save it.

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