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Pizarro: Birds take a liking to San Jose airport's new terminal

By Sal Pizarro

spizarro@mercurynews.com
Posted: 05/13/2011 04:28:27 PM PDT
Updated: 05/13/2011 09:16:07 PM PDT

Jets haven't been the only things taking flight at Mineta San Jose International Airport: Several small birds have been spotted winging their way through Terminal B in the past few months.

Airport spokesman David Vossbrink told me this week that the birds have almost all flown the coop. Some were humanely captured and others were just encouraged to skedaddle through open doors.

It seems the birds bypassed the TSA checkpoints and sneaked in through open doors, seeking out crumbs left around tables near the terminal's Starbucks. The tables have since been moved out, and that's helped the problem, Vossbrink said.

Anyone moving house knows just how difficult it is to find the perfect home - especially if you have children on the way.

But one expecting wagtail found the perfect place for her and her chicks - inside the bonnet of an ice cream van.
Warm, dry, but albeit a bit noisy, the bird carefully built her nest inside Mark Webb's ice cream van parked in an industrial estate near Southend for the winter.

Mr Webb only discovered the nest and her tiny new-borns after he had driven the van for four hours a day for four days during half term.

Remarkably the new family survived whilst Mr Webb sold hundreds of ice creams at Great Notley Country Park near Braintree.

More...Dozens of twitchers lay siege to a bowling green for a sight of a rare white-throated robin normally found in TURKEY

The 53-year-old chef, who runs the cafe at the park, made the discovery on Friday.

The father to Kerri, 19, said: 'I was putting my stuff in the car and I noticed a baby wagtail hopping through the grill. I peered through to see the baby chicks.
'I don't know how they survived. I drove it for four hours each day for four days. You need to have the engine running to run the van.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1OdSdW1lS

Four fledgling swallows have successfully hatched in a nest their parents built on a picture frame above a sink in a woman's kitchen.

The young birds are preparing to fly their unusual nest in Pam Jones's rural cottage near Roch in Pembrokeshire.

Their parents, who built the nest from mud and straw, fly in and out of the back door bringing them food.



Ms Jones, 79, said they seemed unflustered by her presence or that of her cat and dog.

The pensioner said she feeds a wide variety of wild birds from sparrows to pheasants in her garden.

So she was delighted when the swallows started nesting in her kitchen.



She said she did not think that the eggs would hatch as the parents did not seem to spend much time sitting on them, but believes the heat in the kitchen helped them survive.

She keeps her back door open during the day so the parents can fly in and out to gather food.
The nest is on top of the picture frame to the left of Pam Jones The nest is on top of the picture frame to the left of Pam Jones

After dark the whole family settle down in the nest.

"It's an unusual place to build a nest," she said.

"It's so sweet. They are very very happy sat up there with their mother bringing them food."

The parents make full use of the kitchen perching on a Chinese ornament on the other side of the room.

Ms Jones, who plays classical music to them, thinks they are barn swallows.