Out There: Stories from the Woods

Spring is in full bloom! Or maybe it’s pre-summer? I can’t tell from the humid temperatures and LACK OF RAIN from the storms that haven’t arrived yet the weather-people have been calling for since Friday.

We have an over-abundance of birds all around us, and none other more present than my birthday discovery last weekend of a nest of hatched baby robins above our front door.

I’ve been watching this mother (and father) robin just spend all day flying nearby, pulling worms out of the ground, and feeding their four freshly-hatched babies. It gives us great joy to see this young life appear above our doorstep, as if we are being blessed by nature’s bounty of birds!

The mother, who loves to just feed her babies and then sit on them and their now-full bellies (see photo attached), has been named…Chicken. Yes, our mother robin is named for another bird of the poultry family.

Knowing not much about birds, this very comical sight is something I look forward to seeing all day long.

At times, there is a line-up of mother and father robins with worms in their mouths waiting to feed their young. I too am always waiting to see the birds, constantly checking on them morning, noon, and night.

Yes, the mother bird is sitting in her nest all night long, and she does close her eyes at times. I tend to wake her up by mistake when wishing her goodnight and turning on our front porch light.

I have to apologize to my wife though, who thinks I am being rude. But I can tell that she also finds it very cute that I am in love with our new feathered friends.

Oh – and we have new smaller nests that appeared overnight in our hanging ferns. How lovely.