the curse

I've always had an off/on fondness for Mother Nature and I have more reason now. I suppose it's partly my fault. I cursed an innocent family. For the past few weeks I've had to deal with my uninvited spring guests. They don't take up much room, eat all my food or expect me to entertain them, but just like last spring, they showed up again. To be clear, only two of them show up..until their babies are ready for their appearance. Blackbirds in my kitchen vent! For the first week or so, it's just mom and dad building their nest constantly,and before long, the chatter of babies. The babies are reasonably quiet when their alone, but when the folks open the vent flap to come back in, they get all excited at the prospect of bugs, worms, etc. Wouldn't you?  Kind of a cute noise I have to admit. For awhile that is. In the spirit of taking full advantage of my hospitality they seem to have no problem making a lovely mess of my back step, and I get an occasional nasty scent coming through the stove hood of things I won't speculate on, but with a diet of worms, bug and the like, you get the picture. As I said, they came last year, so why didn't I block the entrance you ask? Because I'm a sucker and don't have the heart to boot the happy family.I actually got pictures of little black heads with wide open beaks, that's how tickled I was. Last year, in an attempt to get them to clam up for a bit, I turned on the fan and heard dead silence for far too long and convinced myself I'd killed them.That's a kind of guilt I don't wish on anyone. I am the kid who cried for days when my hamster croaked and they too don't have a great lifespan. And besides as with most guests, they always leave...eventually. In this case, it's only when the tots are good and ready. Which brings me to 'the curse'. Being a Facebooker, my birds have been mentioned there too. I statused that I was 'wondering when the babies were gonna get 'the push'..noisy buggers.'  Low and behold, didn't I step outside yesterday only to discover one of the wee ones dead with his little head poking out of the flap. I gently nudged him back in the vent because I couldn't bare to look at him. At least I know he wasn't an only child as I can still hear his noisy siblings.Have I mentioned I frickin' hate Mother Nature?!