Last weekend, every time I turned around I was sweeping mud off our back porch. It’s a tiny little porch so I wasn’t getting too worked up about it but I just couldn’t figure out how Vince could be tracking so much mud onto the porch and I wasn’t getting a lot of mud in the house.
I never said anything to Vince about stomping his feet before he got to the porch but he finally said to me “Why don’t you take off your boots before you track all that mud onto the porch?” Huh? Why don’t YOU take off YOUR boots? I’m not the one doing it. Then he said “I’m not the one doing it either!”
Then I looked up and saw that a messy little bird is building a mud nest on the porch trim.
You can barely see it against the brown wood but it’s there. At least we now know we should be blaming that little bird instead of blaming each other! 🙂
Karin says
LOL – sounds like something that would happen at my house! 🙂
Roberta says
Phoebes or swallows make mud nests. Either one are great bug eaters so welcome to your home and be glad they aren’t building inside sofits.
Hugs!!!!
Linda in NE says
Swallows. The minute you mentioned mud on the porch I knew it had to be swallows. They build a nest on top of our outside light every year. Every fall DH knocks it down & washes away the mud remnants & every spring they rebuild. Now you have the mud, soon you’ll have another kind of mess.
Wanda says
If you do not want the mud martins to nest on your porch, just keep washing their mud nest down with a water hose. They are messy little things, but cute.
Diana in TX says
They build here at our front door and since we rarely use it, I put paper down under the nest. Easier that way to keep it a little cleaner. Right now we are dragging in all the oak tails-will be glad when they are done dropping. They stick to the girls curly hair so there is no way I can not get them in the house. So the vacuum is staying out of the closet for a few days! It will help that DH gets back tonight and can then blow off the porch.
vickie van dyken says
Don’t you love it!! No person is at fault….it’s the bird!! They are cool I think. I don’t mind the birds …not to fond of mud daubbers though…Scary Wasp thingy’s …but birds are good!!
Deb says
Let Roberta said, they eat A LOT of bugs and my mom says if swallows build a nest on/in a building the structure will not burn (an old wives tail, but who am I to tempt fate)
We let them eat the bugs and just encourage them to build away from foot traffic. DH put a little board up 2 rafters over when they were building right where we walked.
Deb says
LIKE roberta said… not LET sheddees 🙂
Marilyn says
Barn Swallows. They are fun to watch. But if their nest is right over where you walk up onto your porch–could be a problem. They do eat a lot of insects like someone else said. The ones that nest on our porch I can watch from my kitchen window. They usually have two hatchings during the summer and can have four to six babies in each.
Quiltinggranna says
There are usually swallow nests at the retreat house where we go each May. So fun to watch the babies’ little heads peaking over the edge of the nests and the parents come to feed. We sit outside on the patio with drink of choice for the entertainment.
shirley bruner says
LOL we have birds building a nest on our porch rafters, too
Helen Koenigl says
ROFLOL – my son had that too. Last year while he was remodeling this place, I stayed at his home in Sturbridge. Every time I would head to work this sassy little bird would greet me – and chirp loudly – so I would mimic her right back at her! And we’d get this “conversation” going. I couldn’t figure out WHY the bird was seeking me out daily (unless it was because I was talking to him) – until my son pointed out that whenever I would sass the bird right back – I was probably standing right under the side porch “stoop” – where the bird had built it’s nest – and it wasn’t conversing with me – it was telling me to get the heck away from her nest!
Donna K. from N. TX says
OMG~ That is just too funny! Laughed out loud. Thanks.
Frieda Z says
Expect lots of mess from that nest. Our friends in Johnson City get those and she now lays out mats underneath the nest. Wait til the babies are born. It gets real messy then.
Rosalie says
Mats are a great idea, especially those that can be hosed off. One family I know put out a large plant pot saucer and it caught most of the mess (but it may be in YOUR path on a small porch!)
Kim Paventy says
We have an Oregon Junco that for th last two springs has decide to keep attacking our kitchen windows. My hubby printed a picture of a hawk and taped it to the window. So far the crazy bird hasn’t been back!
jen says
I consider it an honor when a bird chooses my porch and thus, being close to us humans to raise her young.