A house finch makes her nest

A little family made its home right by our front door in Vernon, NJ this spring when a house finch chose a silk flower hanging basket to build her nest. On May 1, I first noticed the carefully constructed nest among the flowers, woven from twigs, pine needles and some bits of string. Frannie, as I christened the mother finch, laid her first egg on May 15, followed by four more eggs over the next four days.

I watched that clutch of five eggs like, well, an expectant grandma. The first three chicks hatched on June 1, with the remaining two following the next day. Quintuplets! For the next two weeks, I peeped in at the nest every morning and watched as the attentive parents tirelessly flew back and forth to feed and care for their growing brood. Day by day, the nestlings transformed from tiny, featherless pink hatchlings into young birds. On June 15, I looked in at the nest to find it... empty, carpeted only by feathers and droppings.

Four fledglings had taken flight. But the fifth, I now saw, was wedged deep in amongst the silk flower stems. Later that day, I looked again to see the final fledgling had disentangled itself and was perched on the edge of the nest. It took flight shortly thereafter, marking the successful conclusion of a wonderful six-week journey that brought a front-row seat to that universal spring drama. And just like that, I was an empty nester.