Our hotel room in Destin had a nice little balcony overlooking the boulevard, and beyond, a spot or two of ocean peeking between condo hi-rises.
As I sat there in the morning, drinking a cup of coffee, I realized I was being watched from above.
All about were these little sparrows flitting. We were four floors up so I was a bit confused as to why they were up there. Then I looked up and saw one of the little stinkers guarding the entrance to his nest…in the eave.
At the corner of the terra cotta roof there was a cavity. And in it, a nest, the straws of which were barely visible. When I moved my coffee cup to my mouth, the little fellow popped into the cavity.
I took a look at all the other eaves within sight and those too had nests in the cavities at the corners.
Later on, I put a few crumbs on the banister and they of course lit there and flew away with the booty…sometimes to the nests.
The roofing system seemed well made and well thought out. The entire front of the roof, where it ended along the fascia, was blocked off with a black piece of aluminum or plastic the exact shape of the undulating terra cotta tiles. But at the corners, no such thought had been given.
This of course was quickly found out by the sparrows. And feeding the sparrows became amusement for hotel guests (I being one).
It is an interesting maintenance battle that builders and architects have waged over the ages against nature. Just when they think they have it licked, nature finds a way ’round it.
I suppose some maintenance manager will requisition some of those large fake owls for the corners of the building before long. Thus putting a bit of a damper on the “vision” the Architect had for the place.
2 Comments
What a great story! And Yay! for your observation skills! That was an interesting bit about the architects having to do ‘battle’ with nature. Wasn’t it always that way, in almost every regard?
This is a really nice drawing. I’m sure it will remind you of the day you looked up and saw the little family of birds.
Thanks for reading Bonny!
I worked around Engineers and builders for all of my er..um…”career” if you can call it that. I was a designer, draftsman, design engineer. All mere titles of course. It all translated to a way to earn a living by communicating with drawings.
As such, I became aware of the little behind the scenes challenges of making buildings and machines work to best advantage. Nature’s little animals, insects, chemicals, elements…all were obstacles of differing magnitude. They still are even in “The Twenty-First Century” (said with the voice of a 1950’s radio announcer.)
And hey, I was involved in the mundane stuff. So, triple the complexity of the challenges for the world of aviation, space, medicine, skyscrapers, etc.
My mind is easily boggled by such.
Drawing I can handle…some days
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