WHO was their real estate / rental agent!?? (Burd Tail)

[Cinder & Smoke]

Originally posted by Freckles

Phred, has the family vacated the premises
so you're able to drive on the road again?

Burd Fambly UppyDate

Since da Burdz moved out of the Driveway Nest on June 25th...
We've "heard" them a few times on the east end of the BigHowze -
(near the pond) - but have only seen the Parents on the ground
once or twice.
Last weekend there were some Killdeer *flying* around the
pond and howze - but they fly so fast it's impossible to tell if
they are "Adulds" or "Kidz"!

We took down the "Burd SankShoeAirie" blockades and started
driving on the DRIVEway again this week;
and also mowed the grass for the Furst Tyme in several weeks!
NO "Aerial Attacks" where flown against the Lawn Maintenance Crew -
so we're hoping & praying the Burd Kidz have "graduated" from
Flight Skewel and are able to fend for themselves.

Dad's lookin for info onna I-net on how to "scare em away" frumma
DRIVEway next year!
We're thinkin a Big Hawk plastik burd,
sittin onna edge of da Drive next Spring,
*mite* convince Maw & Paw Burd to set up howzekeepin
inna slightly LESS bizzie area on da Ranch!

Here's Wishin *HAPPIE SKIES* to da Killdeer Burd Fambly!
.

[Randi]

So did you got da BIG Hawk up? Did any birdies come to hatch again at your property? You know some of them tend to go back to where they were born!

[Cinder & Smoke]

Yuppers, Maw & Paw Burd, the Killdeer parents, returned to their Driveway Condo
in the late spring of 2005 ... *before* I hired the Big Plastic Hawk.

Maw & Paw began attacking the Bus and the Mutts (poor Bowz ... he really did NOT understand
being *chased* by the two little Winged Warriors! I patrolled the drivway so many times
looking for where they'd established that year's Condo that they almost quit trying to
frighten me away ... I wondered if they'd actually set up housekeeping OFF the drive in the grass?

I drug out the Burd Protective Barriers ... two cinder blocks and two sawhorses.
I enlarged their *safe zone* to over half the length of the driveway, and swore off the first
mowing of the year - the Lawn Maintenance Crew of Odd Job & Woody would get an extra week off.
And the grass GREW! (Except where we were DRIVING on it whilst NOT using the driveway!)

Maw & Paw Burd suddenly turned *nasty* and became quite defensive of THEIR driveway ...
The Dawgs were no longer welcome to *swing by to check* on their way to the side or back yards;
The Bus was NOT welcome to *pass in the grass* ... 3 Dawgs and 1 Hoomin drove
past every day with all eyes *peering* out and scanning the drive.

THERE IT IS, DAD!!
Clipp & Clopp went beserk on the way out on the Grassway in the Bus one morning ...
poor Bowz almost got *smushed* in the stampeed to his window ... I couldn't see a thing!
Did "we" have another crop of "Wrapped Baby Burds" somewhere?

That night I did another recon of the driveway --- WITH aerial sorties being flown by
both Maw & Paw - the Three Guard Dawgs huddled together for safety on the front porch.
I found it ... 4 lil Burds wrapped in their tiny protective, speckled shells, waiting for
a hot Burd-Butt to come back and keep 'em warm to hatch-out day arrived.
Same address as last year, they just picked a slightly different apartment.
I decided I'd wait to take snappies on a sunny day.
I moved in the *safety zone* barriers and reclaimed a hundred feet of driveway.

All was well for a week or so - Burd #1 frozen on the "nest" as we motored on by, with
#2 flying protective cover and doing the Killdeer *crash landings* and broken wing/leg *dancing*.

Then suddenly one evening the Burds weren't "home" when we slid by on the way up the Grassway.
Uhhhh-Ohhhhh
I dashed down on foot to check ... NUTZ! NO Kids, NO shells, NO Maw & Paw.)
WAY too early for the Kids to have hatched and hopped off.

I saw Maw & Paw circle silently overhead a couple days later ...
But they never landed anywhere near the Condo.
We left the driveway barriers up for another week in tribute to the Missing Kids;
but fear they were egg-napped by a hungry predator.
God's Will be done.

--------------------------------
2006 Burd Tail

Maw & Paw Burd did return to the Driveway Condo Complex in late Spring, 2006 ~
but their stay was very short. The did fly cover over the driveway - but never got
worked up over the Dawg visits ... I walked the drive, front yard, pond yard -
and never got much *fuss* from either one of them.
I hope they found a safer apartment that year.

-----------------------------------------------
2007 and 2008 - No Burds, No Tails ...

We haven't seen nor heard May & Paw Burd these last two years ...
"Our Pair" should be GrandParents by now - I sure hope The Kids learned from their
Driveway Childhood and have picked better locations to raise the GrandBurds!

It's warming up - the grass is growing - and the Burd Condo has been *trashed* by
the early thaw and Late-season snow plowing ... we need some major overhauling in
the slag & gravel department before we're ready to host more *squatters*!

Maybe I SHOULD go get us a Big Plastic Hawk!

/s/ Burd Granpaw Phred