Mrs. Robin and her babies: the final chapter, part 3

If you’re following along with today’s story, we saw the robin babies getting more active in the nest, and then venturing out onto the window ledge. (See Part One)

I’ve been fascinated the last few days with how much the birds had grown in the two weeks since they hatched. But I was even more surprised by the progress just this morning. They went from awkwardly falling all over themselves to purposely getting out of the nest onto the ledge. (See Part Two) When I left them at about 1 PM, all three birds were comfortably perched on the window ledge, calmly sitting and taking in the view.

But when I got home from running errands, I was in for a big surprise: two of the birds were gone.

They left without saying goodbye!

I was nervous for them, because I assumed that they’d fallen or tumbled off the ledge and onto the driveway below. Lots of danger lurked there – our dogs, the stray cats, grackles and crows. I searched and searched but I couldn’t find the two missing babies. Oddly enough, Mrs. Robin was also nowhere to be found. The one last baby sat alone in the nest and on the ledge, peeping and searching the skies for the rest of his family.

I confess that my heart was broken – I didn’t even get to see the two birds leave. They disappeared in the blink of an eye.

I sat out watching the last baby, but he didn’t look like he was ready to leave the nest anytime soon. So I went inside to get something to eat. I brought my food outside, walking to the backyard and talking to Bandit. I just happened to look up as I neared the garage – and lo and behold the last bird flew away! FLEW!! From our garage to the neighbor’s garage!

Yup. I shed a tear. It was miraculous.

So the babies didn’t fall out of the nest – they left on purpose. In one day, they’d gathered the courage to stand on their feet, spread their wings, hang around on the ledge, and then fly away.

I got a little video of the last baby sitting on the neighbor’s garage roof, panned a bit so I could show you how far he flew – and then as I settled the camera back on the bird, he flew away! From the garage up to the pine tree in another neighbor’s yard!

I’m so glad you get to see that.

I’m sure some of you think I’m a little cuckoo, given the amount of time and energy I’ve invested in these birds over the last two weeks. But it’s been miraculous for me, like I’d been given a private viewing of creation in the works. The nest building, the eggs, the babies hatching. I always struggle to understand how people don’t see the hand of the Creator in things like this.

The morning doves have just left their nest today – and I don’t think on purpose. I startled them when I went into the garage; Mrs. Morning Dove is a bundle of nerves. She freaked, her babies freaked, and they all went tumbling down onto the chicken coop. I’ll give you an update on them tomorrow.

It’s been a long journey with the robin family, from Mrs. Robin’s struggles building the nest and laying the eggs to watching the babies into fledglings ready to take flight. If you’ve missed any posts about Mrs. Robin, you can see lots of photos here.