Nesting in the Glitter

I filled my window boxes with pine boughs, glittery branches, and artificial red berry sprigs for Christmas, then left them up through winter — partly out of laziness, partly because I loved pulling into the driveway and seeing a little color. With snowflakes in the air but the worst of winter seeming to pass, I started pulling out the red and glitter to welcome spring.

I finished two of the three boxes when I noticed a Junco carrying on nearby, frantic and insistent. Oh no. Was I too late? Sure enough — tucked into the remaining pine boughs was a sweet little nest with six eggs.

As usual, she'd found the most inconvenient spot imaginable. I left what remained of Christmas undisturbed, and instead of daydreaming about spring plantings, I've been watching her sit just outside my bedroom window. No matter how slowly I open and close the curtains, I startle her. She jumps out, carries on for a minute in a sharp, agitated call — nothing like her usual musical trill — but we're working it out.

The deal is this: I won't touch the window boxes, and she'll have to take my word that the sky isn't falling every time the curtains move.

I'm hoping the egg-to-fledge timeline lines up with the last frost, so I can clear out the Christmas decorations before Memorial Day. I wish I could get a decent photo of that nest — it's full of gold Christmas glitter, and the thought of those babies taking their first flight looking like Liberace makes me laugh every time. Dark-eyed Juncos in gold lamé. Could be the next big neighborhood birdy fashion trend.