What I learned about life from a bunch of bird brains

In mid-May, a robin built a nest in our neighbor's bathroom window. We had a "birds-eye" view of the operation because the nest was 10 feet away from our kitchen window.

For about two weeks, the robin (or robins, I couldn't really tell) would come to the nest and incubate the eggs. With each passing day, my anticipation mounted because I wanted to see the baby chicks. When they were born, I was extremely disappointed because the chicks seemed to be nearly naked and were extremely ugly. I guess I thought they would look like the little yellow feathery chicks I saw on TV cartoons.

But mama robin didn't care. She brought all kinds of food to the nest and the babies got to where every day they were "begging" with their mouths wide open and their heads straight up for hours on end waiting to be fed.

With such a voracious appetite, it wasn't long before the chicks started growing. I think it was last Sunday that the nest had become completely full -- too small for the five chicks. The biggest chick was actually sitting on the others. This one was also preening his feathers and fluttering in front of the others. I was sure it wouldn't be long until he (or she) had flown away to hunt for bugs and worms.

Much to my chagrin, by Monday morning there were only two of the five chicks left and by Tuesday morning, they were all gone.

I had become attached to the little buggers or should I say 'bug eaters'. At first, I kept my distance from the nest, but by the time the chicks were growing feathers, I couldn't help myself. I had taken to walking up a step ladder and taking photos with a telephoto lens on a digital camera. I could almost see their eye-teeth in the back of their beaks.

Somehow, mama robin and the baby chicks must have accepted me as a necessary evil of building a home in town...I had become the annoying neighbor that they tried to avoid so I would go away. However, a squirrel in our neighborhood was not as lucky. The squirrel was probably 30 feet away but walking on the fence that went two feet from from the nest. Mama robin started flying as fast as she could and actually ran into Mr. Squirrel. This made a heckuva a thump and Mr. Squirrel quickly turned tail and ran away. Fur and feathers went flying...so did the robin.

Now I'm an empty nester -- actually, even the nest is gone -- so all I have are the memories....and about 2 million photos of mama robin and her chicks.

It's sort of like raising children...but it's too emotional to describe. Remember when the little tykes looked out the window and then came running to meet you when you drove home from work? Now they are gone because they are working themselves. And you are left wondering, "Had a I known it was going to go so fast, I would have done things differently and spent more time with them, and taken more pictures ...so I could enjoy the memories in my old age."

Well, at least next spring I'll have my robins again.