Baby Birds

A few weeks ago, our neighbor discovered a robin's nest in a small evergreen tree between our yards. The kids and I peeked in every few days, and got to see the baby robins, much to the chagrin of Mama and Daddy Robin, who cackled loudly at us every time we got too close.

Their bodies are mostly in the nest, but you can see their little beaks peeking out. A couple of times we interrupted them in the midst of a feeding, and it was really cool to see their mouths open, waiting for chewed-up worms.



So, I came home from a meeting this week and went to check on the babies. To my surprise, there was a strange bird sitting on the branch next to the next, and one of the same birds INSIDE the next. Mama and Daddy were chirping away, and I thought the nest had been destroyed by these new "predator" birds. Mind you, they looked pretty small to be predators, but what do I really know about birds?

One of the strange birds jumped from the tree on to the grass, having some trouble flying. I assumed (again, clueless me) that the strange bird had been attacked my Mama and Daddy and was injured. Just then, Mom & Dad Robin came swooping out of the sky, right at my head. They literally chased me back into the house, and every time I tried to open the door and peek out they were right there, again.

Thanks to Wikipedia, I was able to identify the strange bird I saw near (and in the nest): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Immature_Robin.jpg.

That's right--"immature robin". They were the babies! They were a lot bigger than I expected--they were really jammed into that small nest.

(My favorite sentence from this entry: "The adult Robin gives alarm calls and dive-bombs predators, including domestic cats, dogs and humans that come near the young birds." I am living proof of that...)

So, now the kids are very happy that the robins are learning to fly somewhere amongst the many trees in our backyard, even if we can't really see them anymore. I only wish I had gotten a picture of the babies leaving the next for the first time...