We’ve had Mr. Rooster (and his companion, Ms. Piggy) for a good 15 years or so; mainly in our Milwaukee family room. We initially spotted Mr. Rooster when we took our son and his friend to visit a local nursery and garden center. He was a metal rooster sculpture and I was really smitten with him. Later that year on our anniversary, Ed surprised me with Mr. Rooster (it was the absolute perfect and most thoughtful gift!); and, he became our symbol for the country life we wanted. We would always joke and tell Mr. Rooster that someday, he’d have a place in the country.
A year later, Ed went to a Maxwell street days event and brought home Mr. Rooster’s companion, Ms. Piggy.
Mr. Rooster and Ms. Piggy came with us on that first day as we closed on the property and we were so happy giving them their final home on our new back porch. They were finally outside where they belonged!
We hadn’t noticed that a house wren had built a nest in Mr. Rooster’s mouth until we moved Mr. Rooster to a different corner on the porch to make room for a picnic table. We initially set Mr. Rooster near the back door, and realized the mistake when we kept seeing a bird flying out of Mr. Rooster’s beak every time we came or went. The bird eventually flew into our house; and, to my surprise, I remained calm as I closed the door to the room it had flown into, opened the window, removed the window screen, and led the very scared bird back outside. While I had been concerned that the little bird had hurt itself as it flew around and bumped into things while in panic mode before leaving through the window, it turns out that it was resilient.
The next weekend when we returned to the property, we noticed that Mr. Rooster had fallen over during a storm. We also noticed three dead baby birds that lay on the ground right outside of Mr. Rooster’s mouth. We mourned. We set Mr. Rooster upright again and tried to position things such that he would not fall again.
It’s been 3 weeks now and the house wren is back; it has re-built a nest and is living in Mr. Rooster’s beak again. We’re not sure if a new family is on its way – but fingers are crossed.
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