Up, Up and Away

The Robinettes grew up before my very eyes. Today, I flipped my calendar back to June and saw my notes documenting that the first egg was sighted on the 14th when with the aid of a ladder, I peered into the nest. As I observed their last few days under the eave of our screen porch, I wondered how the three young birds were co-existing in the small bowl Rockin' Robin had molded of twigs and mud a month ago.

Unfortunately, I missed the three Robinettes' first venture out of their nursery even though I'd been faithfully watching their growth progress every day through my sliding glass door. I'm extremely pleased that I did capture photos of one of the three fledglings after they abandoned their nest. The youngsters left or were nudged out of the nest while I was at work Friday morning. When I got home and looked at the nest, it was empty and no birds were in sight.

I had things to do to get ready for our weekend camping trip so I went about my business and a few minutes later, I heard a tapping on our family room window. One of the Robinettes was trying to fly through the glass and into the house. I grabbed my camera and snapped a couple of pictures from inside and then hurriedly tiptoed outside and found him still perched on the windowsill. I was amazed at his size and at the mottled black and white spotted feathers on his upper breast. His lower breast bore the typical robin's red breast color. Pretty soon, he hopped off the sill and into the neighbor's backyard where I snapped my last photo. I reluctantly left to go camping.

We returned home on Sunday and I haven't seen beaks nor feathers of a single member of the family. I thought they'd hang out at least for a few days learning to fly and such but they must have had places to go, things to do and other robins to fly with.

I became quite attached to the robin family and would have felt bad if my last memory of them was when I stood gazing at their empty nest. If Robinette #1 hadn't pecked on the glass, I wouldn't have known he was still around. I like to imagine he was sent by the family to say good-bye to me before they "flew the coop."

(Please click on the photos for a closer look, otherwise it's hard to see what's happening. I promise it'll be worth your while. In the last photo taken in the neighbor's yard, a chipmunk is there too. I didn't even see him when I took the picture).