Saturday, May 23, 2009

Robins grow up

The geese are having their babies.
Last evening I counted 5 families.
Each with 4-7 babies.
That is a lot of goose poop on the sidewalk.
But totally worth the walk around the lake. The neighbor's purple martin house.


God paints the most beautiful sunsets!!!




If you have read any of my blogs,
you will know I have been following some baby robins
from the start of their young life.
A mother robin made a nest in a bird feeder close to our deck.
Robin #1 flew the coop last night.
I watched him fly out but I didn't have my camera on me!
Here they are before they began leaving the nest.


I watched Robin #1 as he hopped around.
He hopped down toward the creek.
I hope Mommy Robin finds him.

I thought of it overnight.
The Bible says that God watches over the birds of the air.
He is aware of each sparrow (and I'm sure robins).
He was aware of where this one is too.

This morning, I went out on my deck and watched Robin #2 fly out of the nest.
How neat to be able to see that!
I followed and found him in the flowers.
Flying just a few inches at a time.

He hopped onto our neighbor's wheelbarrow.
I held my breath as he hopped on the grating of the window well.
But he didn't fall in. Whew!


He jumped onto the air conditioning unit.
Mommy Robin came and sat with him a little.
She flew away and came back with a juicy worm.
Where are you Baby Robin?

Ah! There you are.
It took a few tries to get the worm to the Baby.





Baby #3 left the nest.
I missed that.
I found him under the deck.
Peeping at Baby #4.
Baby #4 is the last one to leave.
Baby #4 was peeping back to Baby #3.
Peep. Peep. "Come on, you can do it!
Peep. Peep. "It looks too scary!
"Besides, there is this human sitting down on the steps watching me.

Daddy Robin came to encourage him.


Several times it would fluff up it's wings and
I would think surely it would take off.
Mama bird came with a juicy worm for this one.
How do they keep track of each baby and where it goes?
I'm sure they know it's voice.
Just like our Father.
He hears us when we call to Him.

It took soooo long.

I waited to take a picture.
A looooong time.
At one point I thought I would clap my hands
to try to scare it out.

Big mistake.
Daddy was not happy with me at all!
He came and scolded me like you wouldn't believe.
At least he didn't dive bomb me like Nicole Buhler's bird!


I tried to encourage the bird.

Come on! You can do it!
I sing a song with the girls
"Fly birdie, fly, fly,
Fly birdie, fly, fly,
Fly birdie, fly, fly,
Fly,fly, fly."
A silly song, but I sang it in my head to this one.
Birds were meant to fly (well, except for penguins, ostriches and Big Bird).
God has designed us for His purpose too.
"I cry out to God Most High, to God, who fulfills His purpose for me." Ps. 57:2

I can imagine Him encouraging us to "fly",
to do whatever it is He has designed for each one of us to do.

Finally, as Daddy Robin swooped by the nest, he also took off.
I took the picture I had been waiting for,
but alas, since I don't have one of those cameras that takes several snaps one after the other, the one I did take flopped. He was hidden behind the bird feeder.

Drat.

Here he is on the ground.
I keep saying "he". I don't know if they are he's or she's.
Whatever.
Probably two of each maybe.

This is a photo of Baby #3.
We did name this one.
We call him Deck,
sort of southern for Dick.
Because he climbed the steps onto my deck
and sat there for quite some time.
Then he flew off.
Hopped over to the neighbor's deck
and hopped up those steps
and sat on top of it.

Soon they will learn how to fetch for worms
all by themselves.
For now, Daddy and Mommy do it for them.
It has been so fun to watch these birds from the start.


Daddy watching over Deck.

The empty nest.



3 comments:

  1. how fun to be able to see all of the baby Robin progress!
    I've also noticed the many baby geese/ducks along the pond. they were so fun to watch!

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  2. I am so jealous! We are out of town, and will miss our babies leaving their nest :o( I am very excited to see your photos - and felt like I was watching my little ones be escorted into the world too. Thanks so much for sharing the great pictures.

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  3. Love, love, love your little family of birds. We've really enjoyed them this Spring, also. Seems like more in the neighborhood. Maybe it's because our trees are growing!

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