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I have learned that robins leave the nest before they learn to fly. for this reason, the fledglings have a rather low survival rate, about 10-20%. had I known this sooner, I would have not gotten attached. perhaps I would have made the mother robin build her nest elsewhere than on the bend of the downspout right under the eave, at the corner of the added den just to the right of the back door. you can see my point, im sure.
but I did not know. so we watched the mother build her nest, lay her egg(s), hatch and feed her baby. we watched as the baby grew stronger. I did not get a shot of the fledgling as he sat on the side of the nest one day last week. I had just fed the dogs as he watched from his perch above me, all calm and quiet. I put the dishes up, and returned to the yard to do pick-up duties. I had just passed under the nest with my bucket when I heard the frantic screeching and fluttering. I turned to see the fledgling in the mouth of my lab, the parent robins on the patio table trying to distract the dog.
I cried out ‘noooo’ like some silly scene in a movie, and chasing roy off I scooped up the bird in my bare hands. he was all bloody, but still alive and fighting. I put him back in his nest, and brought the dogs in. I was shaken, and grieved. I washed the blood from my hands, and watched the nest.
the parents never returned.
the beau removed the nest, and the little carcass.
now that I know they leave the nest days before they fly, I know that he never would have made it in my yard. my dogs will eat birds if they can catch them. I don’t feel so bad about it. and I have forgiven roy. poor dog, he really didn’t understand why I was mad at him.
I think of that scripture in romans 8:22 ‘For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.’
