While DH was building a garage in the back yard a pair of robins built a nest in the rafters. He tried to work on the other side of the building so as not to disturb him. But they didn't seem to mind him around at all. Even after the baby hatched. (One egg didn't make it-I didn't want to mention it until the M twins were out of danger.) Boy, that baby was loud. I had previously believed that baby birds were noisy to get the parent's attention and thus the food ahead of their siblings. Wrong!! That baby sounded like a nest full. It was something to see the parents take care of the nest and the baby. Both of them brought food and took turns being on guard. The best part was when the mama pushed the baby out to a branch. There he sat for a couple days having song-bird lessons. She brought a berry to feed him if he "talked right". She sat beside him and said "ch-e-e-p chirp chirp chirp". The poor baby would try to copy her but could only get out a small "peep". After several times of her demonstrating what to do and him getting it wrong, he finally managed a "peep PEEP", and she gave him the berry. After she flew off he sat on the branch quietly practicing his chirping. I know it sounds amazing but this is exactly how it happened. I think she was hiding him from other birds because she never approached the branch directly. She would climb up the trunk to him. Also, no more squawking. He stayed pretty quiet and still - except for a little peep practicing. After a couple days on the branch she took him for a flying lesson. I would have expected that to have a couple false starts but she just took off to the sky and he followed. They soared away and never came back. Do all baby robins do that? Or, is ours just advanced?
