There’s a new resident in our household: The Mother. A dove has inhabited the nest on top of our gutter drainpipe. The nest has been there for years, according to the landlord, but we’ve never seen anyone in it until The Mother came and sat upon it earlier this month. So far she’s just been sitting and biding her time. She doesn’t care when we come out on the balcony to pick basil or ride the stationary bicycle or throw away diapers. She’s set up residence and we are awaiting her bundles of joy. Anyone know how long a bird sits on eggs so we can have the car gassed up and ready for delivery at any time?
Magrilless 
I had two batches of baby birds at my house this year. On my front porch, under the eaves, a pair of swallows built a mud nest and hatched three babies. They were very protective of them, even going so far as to divebomb me when I tried to go in and out the front door. Didn't take too long to hatch, and they had flown away within about two weeks of hatching. The second was a nest of two baby cardinals in the back yard in a crepe myrtle. The nest was low enough that if I stood on my tippy toes I could look in and see the babies, while mama sat on the fence and chirped loudly to scare me away. They too disappeared not too long after hatching. Once they get out of the eggs, and mama and daddy feed them well, they grow fast and learn to stretch their wings.