Virgin's Bower

Brothers Brent and Phil took Jormungandr out to pick up the bird houses for the season.  I usually do it in September but all little birds should have fledged by this time if they hope to be strong enough to fly south or endure a Northern winter.  I went w/ them to show the way to the two houses on Neighbor Dearhamer's 'pup mountain'.  I brought along the dandelion puller that Sister Connie gave me as it's an excellent bird-house-cleaner-outer.  Both of those houses were used - one by a tree swallow and one by a house sparrow.  We drove to the pair of houses on Brother Russell's property.  Russell came out to say hello and though Russell said he never saw a bird going in or out, the houses had been used.  Back up to where I am planting Yggdrasils from past years to pick up the two houses there.  Then to the houses in the middle of the meadow.   Brent found the first dead bird.  That was part of the reason I clean out houses in the fall.   It's a bummer finding the occasional dead baby birds, adult birds, or unhatched eggs.  The brothers came back to the house and replaced me w/ Whip as they drove back out to pick up the rest of the bird houses.  There was another one w/ a dead bird and two unused houses but, this year, no leftover eggs.  One house that was practically impossible to find in the tall grasses was filled w/ seeds and berries.   I'd never encountered that before.  AI Google seemed to think some birds cached food but I'm fairly certain that's not what's going on here and this was the work of a field mouse.   As if to verify my suspicion, when the brothers cleaned out the double decker bird house near the apple tree, a mouse scampered out of the top when they opened up the door.  He had a pretty little winter condo started among feathers and food stuffs.  That's the other part of the reason I not only clean out the houses but take them in for the winter - I don't appreciate mice taking up winter residence.