Seriously. A full cycle of life took place about five yards from me for the last two weeks. There were some robins living in a nest on the side of the next door neighbors house. We watched the mom stay in the nest often. Then the mouths started peaking over the nest (They really do look like little Venus Fly Traps). And then the babies got bigger. Today, they left. This morning. I’m sad.
No. I’m not on drugs (Although going to Malibu for drug rehab might make it worth it). I’m just sad. Not in a bad way. But watching those birds was like watching my own daughter grow up. She’s 8 now. 8. She’s having sleepovers. She has her own cellphone and computer. My own baby is slowly leaving the nest. Only another 10 years and she’ll be off to college. I know. I know. “Only 10 years? That’s a long time, Mike.” Not to me. 8 years hasn’t been long enough. But let’s get back to the birds. I noticed a few things while watching them:
- The parents hunted for worms in our yard and nearby yards all throughout the day. And every time, they got one.
- Nests are temporary. Their nest slowly fell apart as they got older. They ended up going out on the little ledge the nest was on and spending most of their “teenage” time there. Then they flew away. We haven’t seen them since.
- Speaking of ledges, we got to see the first baby bird leave the nest this morning. He jumped off the ledge after a parent left. He fell about halfway to the ground before his little wings took over and he flew away.
That’s only three of the many things I noticed while watching the birds when I was outside. Notice I haven’t tagged any moral advice onto those observations. I thought of many ways to relate them to my life and life in general. Then I thought of ways to relate them to many other facets of daily living. But I want you to come up with your own insights. What could those observations mean to you? Feel free to share. You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But I ask that you think (”think” being the operative word here) about each of those observations and apply them to a situation in your own life. What could we learn from the birds?
Following is a picture I took with my phone. You can barely see them. I didn’t want to get closer because the parents kept watching me if I tried. And I also know that if the parent birds smell human smell on the babies or near the babies, they won’t take care of them anymore.
EDIT: Notice the portion that has been struck through? Well, Margaret has corrected me on that in the comments. Make sure to read them. She’s very knowledgeable about birds. But this leads me to one moral I will go ahead and include in this post:
Don’t always believe your parents when they tell you not to touch an animal because the animal’s parents may not take care of them anymore if you do. They might just be trying to keep you from touching the animals.
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By Margaret on May 17, 2008 | Reply
Hi Mike! I love watching the birds around my house. I have two sets of house finches who have built nests on either end of my front porch roof supports. They typically raise 2 clutches of eggs a year. The one set of birds are beginning their second clutch now.
Your information about birds smelling human on the chicks is in serious error — only Vultures have a sense of smell. In order to have a sense of smell, you have to have taste receptors in your tongue and birds’ taste receptors are very primitive (sweet, sour, salty), so if you find a chick out of the nest, just replace it. Look for chicks that don’t match as cowbirds are pretty devious about laying eggs in the nests of other birds and their chicks will force out the chicks of the sitting parents. To help your Robins, you could put out some mealworms.
Ok — I know this was way more information than you were wanting about birds
I have no moral advice to give based on your story, sorry — I get too focussed on the critters and speaking of which, they’re all clamoring for breakfast (in Riley’s case, literally saying “breakfast” over and over again)
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By Saphrym on May 18, 2008 | Reply
@Margaret - Thanks for the correction. Editing the post after I write this comment. To my defense, this is only the second time I’ve ever seen a bird nest that close.
By Patsy( Patricia Sawyer) on May 21, 2008 | Reply
I used to think that about birds too. My parents told me that shame on them.. Haha.. I love the birds and was forever trying to get my kids to stay away from nests. Birds can sometimes get angered and I have even been pecked one or two times because I love to peek into a nest. I found a red finch nests last week while trying to trim some wysteria that had gone crazy here. Reaching out to choke every other plant with in a mile I think. Dave was about to Lop off a long tendril when I spotted the little basket hanging on the bottem of the vine.. I first though it was a humming birds nest but after we hid and staked it out for hours we finally spotted the tiny red finch sneaking home looking around and around as if it knew we were hidden in the branches of the cypres tree close by. I haven’t told any one else where the nest is. Mason would want to look every few minutes I’m sure so For now I watch from afar and hope to see the babies fly away soon! Have a great Bird watching summer!
Patsy
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By danandmarsh on Jun 12, 2008 | Reply
Awwweee that was a nice story, and a great way of looking at it. Child leaving the nest!
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