The type of bird she is I believe is a regular sparrow as far as I know. The father has red on his chest and the mother is just a plain brown sparrow, I live in the Arizona desert in Lake Havasu City, Az. I failed to mention that the birds have not hatched yet they are still in there eggs. She laid the eggs last week. The egg laying started on the 8th she had one a day and has 3 now, so they were laid on the 8th, 9th and 10th. Adding the fake foilage is a good idea. I can monitor the nest very easily because it is right by the front door hanging on the wall and I have a glass front door. bandjzmom, this is not a hanging basket(although I do have those hanging out front too),this is a wrought iron planter with a flat back that one puts the coco fibar in it and it hangs on the wall. I stopped watering it because it would of for sure flooded the nest and I did not want to do that so I let the flowers die and that is the problem, it put the nest right out in the open. I think I will move it up and add some fake foilage (GREAT IDEA Lisa) I will then watch the nest from the inside at the front door. I think I have a better chance of this working because the birds have not hatched yet. I will keep you updated. I am relieved to know that she will not leave her eggs. Thanks and if anyone else feels like chiming in I am all ears. Thanks Again, Carrie

There are some birds that lay their eggs in another birds nest. The Cuckoo, Cowbird, Whyda, Honeyguide and Black-headed Duck come to mind. "These birds, called brood parasites, lay their eggs in another bird's nest and let the other bird parents feed and raise their chicks. The "egg abandoner" is then free to mate again and lay more eggs in another nest. The cuckoo is the best known brood parasite and an expert in the art of cruel deception. Its strategy involves stealth, surprise and speed. The mother removes one egg laid by the host mother, lays her own and flies off with the host egg in her bill. The whole process takes barely ten seconds. Cuckoos parasitize the nests of a large variety of bird species and carefully mimic the colour and pattern of their own eggs to match that of their hosts. Each female cuckoo specializes on one particular host species. How the cuckoo manages to lay eggs to imitate each host's eggs so accurately is one of nature's main mysteries."

What does mama bird think of you hovering over the nest? I'm always interested in bird behavior. Some of them will dive-bomb and get after you while others just watch. When I had a robin's nest in a Hoya, which was under our covered front porch, mama bird would fly to a close spot when we spent time on the porch. If we would sit real still, she would come back and sit on the nest, but we had to be careful not to be noisy or move around a lot. Birds are very interesting creatures! Denise in Omaha

I have the same problem in Florida with my orchids. They hang in various baskets under the trees. Not only do the birds try to nest in the baskets, they love the sphagnum moss which is part of the potting mix. They also love the coir baskets, pulling chunks off the baskets which leaves big holes where all the potting mix falls out. One thing I did last year which seemed to work was to add small lava rock to the top of the potting mix. They do not like it and have left the plants alone. I removed it after nesting season and saved it for this year. I found a bunch of house wrens and finches landing in the baskets this morning and I knew it was time to get the rock out. You could probably use small gravel. Would work the same. Good luck and let us know how it goes... Jane