mistake

A few days ago I was doing some outdoor cleanup in the back yard. I noticed on the eaves that there was a wasp nest, made of mud and twigs. I got stung by a wasp about two years ago. OUCH. So each spring I go around the house and check for the little mud nests under the eaves. I noticed some sort of bee hanging onto the mud. My children are grown up now and they can protect themselves but my nieces and nephew come over so I want the yard to be safe for them.

So tonight, I thought I have the time so I went out there and knocked down the mud hive. This was just before dusk. I knocked the hive out of the eave - it was on top of the floodlights. The bottom was mud so I just hit it with a long stick. As soon as I hit it and knocked it out from the eave, three birds flew out. It broke my heart. I thought it was a wasp nest. I didn't see any eggs fall out. I think two of the birds were the babies. They were hatched a few months ago.

I just started yelling "sorry, sorry, sorry." I know the birds can't understand that but I hope they could understand my tone. I went inside and told my wife. She said I could try and put the nest back. I used some tongs from the bbq to keep my human scent off of the nest. But the nest disintegrated as I tried to put it back. I felt so bad. I finally went inside and found a small box. I put the nest in the box and put the box in a nearby tree. It has lots of leaves on it. The box is hidden.

I went out later and checked on the box. It was empty. But I could not see any sign of the birds. I feel real bad about that. I was just trying to make things safe. I hope the birds are ok. We have lots of trees in our yard. I hope they had a back up house. Maybe they went to stay with friends. Or checked into a hotel. Like I said, I feel bad.