GONE AT LAST

Finally I found someone to climb on my roof to help ease my mind about the bird mites that I wrote about here. I have had no more bites since the chigger attack but the idea of those bird mites was still giving me the willies and causing phantom skin crawling every time I thought of them. The mind is such a powerful thing. The nests had to go.

This fellow had done this type of job before so he knew what he was getting into. Some had actually refused the job. I could not blame them, even in this economy. He came out Friday with an army of two warriors to tackle the job. I wanted the nests cleaned out and the access points blocked off. The Bird Nest Inn was closing.

I asked if they would mind being photographed and their pictures put on the Internet. Two said fine but one fellow really objected, giving me a kind of scary look. I suspect he might be wanted several states so I promised to only photograph his behind. That settled, they went to work.

Besides the Starlings nesting in my soffits, I had house finches that had nested in each corner under the porch. The boss worked on blocking those corners with 2x6 boards and he sent his two helpers to the roof to clean out the gable soffits. I am usually someone who watches to be sure things are done to my liking but also to be helpful if I can. However, the workers were in two different places and I was following the out bursts of "Aw crap" as fast as I could. They men really were good with their language.

I was also busy running for garbage bag, broom, wasp spray, antihistamines ( a wasp got one of them) and water, so not all jobs were properly supervised or photographed. Also, I was inhibited by the camera shy fellow. Maybe he was just really shy about having his picture taken but he threw me some really dark looks when I tried to take a picture of just the nest material. I really can take a hint.

I missed the "big one" darn it. They had pulled one nest out of my eves that was 4 feet long. By the time I got around that side of the house, it was all ready bagged up. I didn't have the heart to ask for a reenactment.

This is the contractor bag containing the 4 nests. I am guessing it weighs around 30 pounds. All that crap was part of my house. Eewww.

All the access points were plugged, not beautifully but functionally. The sad thing is that they found eggs in two of the nests. Thank goodness it wasn't baby birds for I am not sure how I would have handled that. The Starlings returned that day but when they couldn't get under the soffits they finally left. Thank goodness for you know me and my overdeveloped guilt feelings.

As I was typing this, there was a commotion outside the window. It was 5 of my fledged house finches or maybe house sparrows(they were always to quick to identify) that have been using the old nest area under the porch as an evening roost for the past couple of weeks. They just discovered the new barricade.

There was lots of chatter as they could not believe the door was closed. I only got this picture of two of them on the roof of the guest house as the other 3 took to the trees when I came out. They were not amused and were quite vocal about their displeasure.

Nothing has really changed but my state of mind. The mites were never in my house except for that one hitchhiker. The crawly feelings are gone and I am sure the birds will adjust. Life is good again.

Hope I haven't given anyone the crawlies.