Photo Sunday – Robin Chicks From Birth to Flight

Our Robins are gone, but we were fortunate enough to Photo Journal their life from birth to flight.

So ugly he's cute

The nest, just a few feet away from the chair in which I do most of my writing on the outside deck, had been created by Mama Robin without my knowledge.  Perhaps I had been so engrossed, so close minded, that I hadn’t noticed?  How long does it take for a Mama Bird to prepare her house for birth?

Hey Mom, we cant see you, but were hungry!

Once we realized we had babies, we also knew we had a problem. Nesting Mothers of course, are very territorial, and that deck is my territory, so we started what was to become a type of time-share situation.

If Mama was in the nest, then Adam would wait patiently until she flew off in what seemed like a constant job of finding food and feeding the chicks. If Mama was gone, or flew off, I would take my spot on the deck and would wait until Mama started flying around my head or sat atop the fence yelling at me.

Get out of here Adam, were hungry again!

One of the few times I was allowed out while Mama fed the chicks

Perhaps we had come to a consensual peaceful understanding

It was an especially warm day, when I heard a flutter of wings and looked up to see Mama in the nest, feeding the kids.  We had done it, we had made a connection. We trusted each other.

Almost all grown up, it wont be long now

And then one day, much earlier than I was ready for, we returned home from work to find an empty nest. The nest still sits there, as a daily reminder of the time we were able to share with a Mother Robin and her Chicks. We hope that she will return next year, to allow us to share in her life.

But until then, every time I see that empty nest, I suffer a small pang of empty nest syndrome.

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