buyers of $90K Ford truck are content to leave it at dealership until newborn robins leave the nest built on a tire [View all]

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A Ford Truck, Home to Newborn Robins, Is Stuck at a Kansas Car Dealer
Employees of a dealership in Olathe, Kan., found the nest, which is protected under federal law, on top of one of the truck’s tires.

The contract has been signed and the down payment made. But the buyers of a new Super Duty F-250 pickup truck keep waiting — and waiting and waiting —to drive it off a Ford dealer’s lot in Kansas.

Not because of supply-chain issues or custom options that are difficult to find.

This particular vehicle, a King Ranch edition that costs about $90,000, has more than 500 horsepower in its engine, a “concert-quality” Bang & Olufsen sound system, two-tone paint trim and 34-inch Bridgestone tires.

But it’s most notable feature is the nest resting on top of the front passenger-side tire where four robin chicks are maturing.
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Diane Johnson, the center’s executive director and a registered veterinary technician, said the group advised the dealership that if the truck’s buyers were getting antsy, the nest could be moved to the tire of another pickup truck that was similar.

There was one parked right next to it.

The buyer, who the dealership said was a construction company that did not want to be publicly named, was content to let nature run its course.

“The new owners said they were in no hurry to get the truck and the robins could finish raising their family,” Ms. Johnson said.