in the gutter

I think I know why people who make stupid choices are called bird brains.

This weekend it came time to clean out the gutters on my house. This has to be the most tedious and mind-numbing chore that a person can be relegated to. The job itself is incredibly monotonous and so it feels very slow-going. As if to add insult to injury the crud that sits and decomposes in the gutter is rather gross. Fortunately it didn't stain when I sat in the drippage a couple of times. I neglected the job as long as possible until about 4PM on Saturday, then determined it could not wait any longer.

As was expected, the process was uneventful for the first 20 minutes or so, which was until I got to the far end of the front of the house. As I approached the downspout a robin fluttered out the downspout in a fury and flew away, though probably not far away. I didn't think much of it at first, but as I continued to work on the area of gutter approaching this downspout I couldn't help but notice a light chirping coming from inside my downspout. The stupid robin had created a nest in one of the joints of the downspout and had at least one live chick in the nest.

I considered my options carefully. Dare I try to move the nest and deal with inevitably killing the chick and perhaps having an angry parent on my hands? Since the downspout only handles water for a three to four foot stretch of gutter, I figured that I could probably deal with a blocked downspout for a couple of months. I decided to leave the nest for now and remember to clean it out later this summer.

Hopefully by July the robin will have figured out that the downspout only makes a good home if she wants an indoor pool. If not, I fear I'll be responsible for a cleanup reminiscent of the cottontail massacre.