We got our hanging basket of impatiens on June 24.  Two days later, a couple of house finches had claimed it as their own.  The male (Mr. Pavaratti) sang continuously and scared off other birds.  I think he was a bit peeved at us when we got two bird feeders a couple days later.  How dare we encourage others to enter his territory?!

They built their nest really quickly.  We got to take pictures when we took the plant down for waterings.

A completed nest.  Just built by two proud parents.

Three eggs!  They're so delicate and each only the size of a fingertip.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Four eggs!  Now we just have to wait for some hatching.
 
 
 

I checked the nest a couple days later and there were only three eggs.  I'm glad I have the picture of the four or I would have thought I made it up.  I don't know what happened to the last egg, but we didn't have  long to worry about it before there were no eggs...instead there were chicks!
 
 
 
 
 

Two of them lifted up there pitiful little heads to be fed, but they looked completely exhausted!  The eggs were laid on July 1st, and we saw the newborn hatchlings for the first time on the 16th.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

About three days later, the three chicks aren't doing much moving yet.  They are definately bigger though.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

At about six days, these guys already have lots of feathers.  I never hear a peep out of them, but their parents must be busy keeping them fed!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

My last picture of the three of them.  I really stopped  watering the plant because we got a lot of rain, and I didn't want to disturb the little guys as they got older and more capable of damaging themselves or each other in fright.
Sometime after this last picture, I noticed a very young bird on our balcony railing, but I have no way of knowing if it was one of ours or a different family.  The hanging basket is up high enough that I can't peek into it without taking it down, so I don't know their fledging date.

I do know that this little baby flew into our sliding screen door on August 1.  I didn't want to scare it by trying to free it, so I took a picture instead (I'm not sure how I feel about that!).  It flew away when it saw Bowser stalking it!  I think Bowser would have liked it if we had let it inside!
 

So there ends the summer 2000 house finch saga.  We'll see if we get more next year!