Let's talk about Mother's day and the beauty of SPRING! One rainy day I looked out my kitchen window to see a robin flying to and fro with muddy grass in her beak. I couldn't tell where she was taking the muddy wads until I looked through my backdoor window. In one day she had built a beautiful nest in the hanging planter on my back porch. 
I stepped up to check it that evening and it was empty but by the next morning it had one little blue egg in it and by the next day, there were three!
We watched that nest for a few weeks with no change. We were afraid that, with letting the dogs in and out past the nest, Robin would not be able to keep her eggs warm enough for them to hatch. But there soon appeared one little newborn, helpless and practically naked! His birthday was April 29th, 2008. He grew and grew until he filled that nest. Then, last Sunday, on Mother's day, we watched as he jumped out of the nest, hopped past the alerted dogs, through the chain link fence, and out to the grass of the big wide world beyond!
He hopped around the yard looking a little frantic as we all wondered where Mama-bird was. After about a minute, here she came, close behind, to reassure him. We saw him the next day balancing precariously on the frame of our hammock as it blew in the gentle breeze.
We watched that nest for a few weeks with no change. We were afraid that, with letting the dogs in and out past the nest, Robin would not be able to keep her eggs warm enough for them to hatch. But there soon appeared one little newborn, helpless and practically naked! His birthday was April 29th, 2008. He grew and grew until he filled that nest. Then, last Sunday, on Mother's day, we watched as he jumped out of the nest, hopped past the alerted dogs, through the chain link fence, and out to the grass of the big wide world beyond!
He hopped around the yard looking a little frantic as we all wondered where Mama-bird was. After about a minute, here she came, close behind, to reassure him. We saw him the next day balancing precariously on the frame of our hammock as it blew in the gentle breeze. The other two eggs never did hatch.
Baby Robin was a bittersweet reminder of how short our time is with our little ones. I have about 5 more years, TOPS, with my two teenagers. Then they will jump from the nest, past the jaws of the "dogs" and spread their wings to fly away and build their own nests. Think they will notice if I hop alongside them for a while?
No comments:
Post a Comment