Garden centre staff in Summerside protecting 3rd sparrow nest this year

Staff at the garden centre at Kent Building Supplies in Summerside, P.E.I., are doing their best to protect a small sparrows nest found recently in among some of theplants.

Garden centre supervisor Wendy Buchanan saidthis isn't the first time a sparrow has chosen the centre as a place to lay its eggs. In fact, she notedthis is the third nest this year.

She said staff are told to be on the look out for them when they are watering plants.

The latest nestappeared on July 11, and the eggs showed up the next morning, said Buchanan.

'Kind of ugly kind of cute'

"They are right in the middle of a tray of plant material," said Buchanan. "There are four eggs in there right now. Usually it takes between three and four weeks from the time we find it to the time we see the babies and then another three to four weeks before they leave the nest."

"We have a couple of customers that come in and check on the status and they usually come in a couple of times a week to see if they have hatched yet. The chicks are kind of ugly but they are kind of cute."

The plants where the nest is located have already been sold, but the owner will wait until the sparrows are gone before picking the plants up

The owner actually chose to purchase them because the nest was there, said Buchanan, and can take the empty nest as a bonus.

Buchanan notedthere is usually at least one nest found at the garden centre every year and it's something the staff look forward to seeing.

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