Toolbelt Birdhouse

[Martin Hash]

Long ago, somebody hung an old leather toolbelt on a hook in my garage. Over the years I’ve considered throwing it away but you never know when you might need a toolbelt? Apparently, a couple decades hasn’t been long enough to use it for tools but it has finally found a use: as a birdhouse. A few weeks ago, there was a little bird flying around in the garage chirping insistently at me when I was in there doing something. After a while I noticed it was going into the toolbelt pocket, and when I looked in there, I saw a nest with one egg. We visited California for 5 days and left the garage doors closed. I didn’t remember the little bird until we were on the plane, and worried how. I assume it’s a she, was going to get something to eat. The first thing I did when we got home was to open up both doors; I saw the bird immediately fly out, and was relieved she was okay.

Little Bird c.jpg

Yesterday, my 2-year-old granddaughter was over. I was fiddling around in the garage, ignoring all the excited chirping. The volume was higher than normal; I looked towards it and noticed that in addition to the little momma bird, there was another bird that looked the same but it was brown, and there was a little baby bird hopping around on the ground. My granddaughter noticed it too, and walked closer until they flew away. She wanted to know what they were so I asked my phone; it showed me pictures to choose from; the birds are reed buntings; I realized I’d confused the male and female, the black one was the male, the one that was always trying to chase me off; like you’d expect. I didn’t see the little bird family again. I looked into the nest in the old toolbelt; it was empty. I miss the little birds; maybe next year?

Toolbelt.jpg