I once had a sparrow alight upon my shoulder,

and I felt more distinguished by that circumstance

than by any epaulet I could have worn. 

                                             ~Henry David Thoreau

An enterprising starling decided to build a nest

In my home’s dark narrow oven vent one day.

My neighbors have fits when this happens to them,

But me? I never object in any way.

This devoted mother spent weeks

Building a very cozy little nest,

 Where her future babies could snuggle

While she nurtured them with zest.

After the five babies were finally born,

I would watch Mom bringing them slugs.

She carefully dug them out of the ground,

And returned to the nest with these bugs.

My lovely spouse was disgusted by this sight,

She kept hounding me to clean out the old vent.

And when I finally did, what I soon found,

Truly must have been Heaven sent.

As Momma Bird had gone about her nest building,

I had often heard clanking noises above my stove.

It had almost sounded like a slot machine,

And someone feeding it quarters, by jove.

After the starling family finally vacated

Their cozy little home above my range,

I popped open the dirty old oven vent,

And out popped hundreds in change!

A surveillance camera in the neighborhood

Had caught a carwash machine bandit in the act.

It was my very grateful, rent paying, bird tenant,

Now, what do you think about that?

Did I return the money?  Hmm.

I’ll let you decide.

But I do know that a local animal shelter

Received a nice donation from the car wash.

And mum’s the word,

On the location of this notorious

Car Wash Bandit.

The Creator truly works in mysterious ways.