By Mary Alice Murphy (with help from a friend)

Courtesy Photo from May 8 at left

"I just went down to take a photo of a bird's nest inside a pipe at the end of the driveway," she wrote on May 9 "I heard them peeping on my walk yesterday (May 8, 2016). Today I drove down so I could be high enough to photograph into the pipe. The birdies were still and quiet but the mama was squawking from a nearby tree trying to scare me away. I didn't want to disturb them any more. But curiosity got the best of me. I went back later and the Mama bird was flying out of the top of the pipe after feeding them. I was not fast enough to get her photo."

Courtesy Photo from May 20 at right

Update from friend on May 21, 2016: "It was May 8 that I first heard the chirping! I researched and found they are Juniper Titmouse species. Yesterday I got curious so I stopped and took this photo down in the pipe. This photo is zoomed. Mama bird was chirping and hopping from branch to branch so I did not want to traumatize her or the babies too much. Today I did not hear her or the chicks I think maybe they have 'flown the coop' so to speak."

We've had our own bird adventures at our house. I looked out the kitchen window at the birdbath one day to see "stuff" in the water. I went out to check it and there was a whole piece of bread in the water. How did it get there?

I tossed the bread, and washed out the birdbath. A little later when I was washing dishes, I noticed a raven strutting up to the birdbath. This time he was carrying carrion of some sort'rabbit?

My husband's comment was: "He was going to make a sandwich."

I chased the bird away with food hanging out of its mouth, but not before it dropped some fur and guts. Yuck!

Almost every day, we have to toss the water with "stuff" in it and wash out the birdbath and refill it for the other birds. More pieces of bread have showed up. Is one of my neighbors feeding the birds with stale bread?

Needless to say, it's kind of a chore to have to clean the birdbath often multiple times in a day.

So naturally, I searched the Web for an answer. Here's what I found at Wild Birds Unlimited in reply to a question from a reader about seeing a crow bring a piece of pizza crust to her birdbath.

"Blackbirds, crows and ravens are known for washing their food before eating. You are lucky it was just a pizza crust! I've heard reports of birds dipping road kill and variety of other foods in birdbaths and leaving very unpleasant surprises behind.

"Anyway why are they doing that? It's been pretty hot recently and nesting crows need to keep their babies hydrated. Dipping "baby food" in water not only softens it, but allows the babies to get sufficient water to meet their daily needs.

"Water is very important to birds. Offering a dependable source of water is probably the simplest and most important step you can take to increase the variety of birds in your yard."

http://lansingwbu.blogspot.com/2011/06/why-do-crows-and-blackbirds-dip-their.html 

So did I toss "baby food?" Makes me feel a little guilty, so I hope the babies soon leave the nest. I don't know where the nest is, but the bird usually flies toward the west side of the house, so likely it's off that direction somewhere.

A pair of ravens roosted in our carport during the cold of winter. So my car had to remain half in and half out to keep it out from under their VERY sticky poop landing on the front of my car. It took some scrubbing to get it off.

They happily moved out when the nights became less cold. My inadvertently chasing them out more than once when I arrived home after dark may have discouraged them, too.

So what are your bird adventures? Let me know at justcallmemam@grantcountybeat.com .

May your musings bring you beauty (and not carrion).