I scrounged around...couldn't find any! I found a curled up millipede....tiny....afraid to feed to for fear it might not be in their diet....but the thought did cross my mind!

@Robecology get a worm farm going. I get great delight in watching them consume apples - the apple becomes filled with a mass of writhing, wriggling intertwined worms that I fondly hope are in the worm equivalent of earth shattering orgasms in a mass orgy. A very satisfying thought!

@FrayedBear Bad news; the nest was not only empty, but destroyed. Hopefully the babies fledged out...

@Robecology If not you will find the bodies when the smell starts.

@FrayedBear I checked the ground....there was no sign of them. I suspect the feral cats that several of the paid garden employees feed - that live on the grounds. Perhaps it was for the best; the nest was close to the ground, and they appeared to be the invasive starlings.

@Robecology The great circle of life?

@FrayedBear I was thinking along those lines. Did you know that NDT said he wants to be buried so his molecules can be used relatively quickly by other organisms? It makes sense...to get back in to the "circle of life" quicker...go for a ground burial....

> Quotes > Quotable Quote
Neil deGrasse Tyson
“I would request that my body in death be buried not cremated, so that the energy content contained within it gets returned to the earth, so that flora and fauna can dine upon it, just as I have dined upon flora and fauna during my lifetime”

― Neil deGrasse Tyson

@Robecology Even faster but denied was the English aristocrat who wanted to be cut up and fed to his dogs.
Trouble is these days the one tasked with butchering the cadaver will get more turning it into and selling the meat into sausages for human consumption.

Good question....I'd say not tiny bluebird/sparrow sized...more a medium sized bird...probably a staring or cowbird....

@Robecology they sure are hungry!

The babies were already bigger than "warbler" sized birds...I'm guessing starling or cowbird (very dark plumage.)