My Closest Neighbor

My nearest neighbors are a masked weaver bird couple... they live in the thorn tree right outside my window. They can be pretty noisy about 5 o'clock in the morning, but I've learned to sleep through their singing/screeching. :) 

Here is Mr. Weaver sitting in a 'ring' of woven grass. This is the beginning of yet another nest he is building for his sweetheart. These male birds work tirelessly, building a nest every day until their mate approves the nest for egg-laying. I've seen this particular couple bird build a couple dozen nests until one was finally approved. 

Here's a video I took at the very beginning of the nest-building process, quite a while ago.

Isn't that amazing? I could just watch him for hours, the way he chooses his materials and builds his nest, one little piece at a time. 

Here are all the nests that are currently hanging on the tree. See the nest in the middle of the group, with that little tuft of grayish-white sticking out of the bottom? That is the one they are actually using. The others are ones that were rejected. Every day the male weaver comes and 'fixes' portions of their new nest, tearing out the old, putting in new pieces. The stuff sticking out of the bottom is the downy feathers the female lined the nest with before laying her eggs.

And here are some of the eggshells. I just think they are beautiful! There was an eggshell on the ground each morning for five or six days in a row. I was trying to collect them all, but Firestorm beat me to it on some days. Apparently, he thinks eggshells taste good. :)

This picture doesn't really show you how small the eggs are. The whole eggshell is probably about the size of my pinky from the first knuckle to the tip, less than inch long. 

I'm looking forward to the baby weavers getting some flying lessons in a few weeks. :)