Robin babies on the move
Just after I wrote my last post, I went downstairs for breakfast. I looked out the kitchen window to see one of the robin babies was perched on the edge of a planter. A glance out the sliding door showed a second baby hanging on a decorative star on the lattice, then landing on our stack of deck chairs. A third was still hanging out in the nest. The fourth, I never saw.
The baby on the chair stayed there for a while, until a robin parent came up to the nest to feed the straggler baby, then appeared to go, *I* want breakfast, and hopped/flew onto the deck, walking over to the corner near the nest. Ultimately it ended up on the ground and tried its hardest to fly back up, but little wings can only get you so far. That one could only get maybe to the bottom of one of the family room windows and that was it. A check before I left for work showed me that baby was on the back of a blue plastic chair dad had propped up, tilted, against the house.
The one on the planter, it made its way to a planter stand on the stair on the back of the deck. I went over to try to get a picture of it and it flew to one of the arbor vitaes at the back of the yard, but couldn't quite land on it and ended up on the wood planks resting flat along the back fence. That's likely the one I saw up in a tree when I went to leave for work.
The third baby stayed in the nest, seemingly afraid to leave. It managed to hop up on the adjacent board for the pergola by the time I left for work. By the time I got home last night, about 8:15, that was the only baby left--and the silly thing had wedged itself into the lattice. I honestly wondered if it was stuck. At least it was the lattice on the other side of the doorway from the nest. I had dinner, then peeked out again and the lump of bird was gone. No baby butt was visible from the back door. I don't know where the baby went off to, but it appears they're all gone.
As for the fourth, that might have been the alpha bird that was climbing on top of the others, eager to get out, and had flown the coop the previous day. At least, that's what I'm hoping.
The baby on the chair stayed there for a while, until a robin parent came up to the nest to feed the straggler baby, then appeared to go, *I* want breakfast, and hopped/flew onto the deck, walking over to the corner near the nest. Ultimately it ended up on the ground and tried its hardest to fly back up, but little wings can only get you so far. That one could only get maybe to the bottom of one of the family room windows and that was it. A check before I left for work showed me that baby was on the back of a blue plastic chair dad had propped up, tilted, against the house.
The one on the planter, it made its way to a planter stand on the stair on the back of the deck. I went over to try to get a picture of it and it flew to one of the arbor vitaes at the back of the yard, but couldn't quite land on it and ended up on the wood planks resting flat along the back fence. That's likely the one I saw up in a tree when I went to leave for work.
The third baby stayed in the nest, seemingly afraid to leave. It managed to hop up on the adjacent board for the pergola by the time I left for work. By the time I got home last night, about 8:15, that was the only baby left--and the silly thing had wedged itself into the lattice. I honestly wondered if it was stuck. At least it was the lattice on the other side of the doorway from the nest. I had dinner, then peeked out again and the lump of bird was gone. No baby butt was visible from the back door. I don't know where the baby went off to, but it appears they're all gone.
As for the fourth, that might have been the alpha bird that was climbing on top of the others, eager to get out, and had flown the coop the previous day. At least, that's what I'm hoping.