Our New Neighbors (off topic)

Since I have some birding friends following this blog, I thought I'd share this, even though it is off topic.

When we designed our landscaping after moving to Boise, attracting birds was a prime consideration.  A shrub border surrounding an open lawn, some plants that birds use for food, nesting, cover, etc, and a water source were the main ingredients.  As a result, we have mourning doves that routinely roost in our backyard, and our juniper trees are full of finch and sparrow nests, and at certain times of the year they make an incredible racket early every evening.  We have no shortage of birds that visit our yard, including goldfinches and the occasional hummingbird (we don't put up a feeder).  There are many other nests in our taller trees, though we have yet to figure out who lives in most of those.

A portion of our backyard.  Note the nest in the crotch of the tree at left.

But it turns out that our first Robin's nest was created at eye level (see above), and the first chicks have hatched, so we decided to take some pictures while Mom was out looking for worms.  We thought some folks might find this interesting...

Three baby robins and one unhatched egg.