A Glimpse of Nature and the Miracle of Life

When I returned home after my dad's funeral, I noticed a newly constructed robin's nest sitting on the window ledge of my back porch. It was just high enough that I could see, standing on my tiptoes, four small sky-blue eggs inside. I've never been able to peek in a bird's nest and see eggs ready to hatch, let alone have it in my back yard! To me it represented a sign of God's presence, life goes on, and the promise of hope.

Four days later I found the eggs had hatched. Having only had experience with baby chicks, I was surprised to see "naked" babies with no feathers. Thanks to a Google search I learned quite a bit about baby robins that evening (which I of course shared with my second grade students the following day).

 I continued to visit the nest each day and record the babies' growth with photos when Mama Robin wasn't there (although she was usually nearby watching me). I even began to think of them as "my" baby robins.

Once I even got a picture of her getting ready to feed the babies, but she took off as soon as she saw me. 

I was amazed at how quickly they grew; pretty soon they were quite crowded in the nest. Whenever I took a picture the noise startled them and the one in front always opened his eyes to look at me. However, they were almost always sleeping when I snuck up to check on them.

And then, suddenly, there were only three baby robins in the nest. I don't know what happened to the other one; I couldn't find any sign of him anywhere, so I'm choosing to believe he was an "early bloomer" and flew off. The other three were soon crowded in the nest and I knew these fledglings would be taking off in the near future.

On the morning of the last day of school, I stepped onto the back porch to snap one more picture to show my students. I noticed the three babies were sitting (standing?) a little higher in the nest. Mama Robin was in the nearby maple tree. The previous afternoon, for the first time, she had scolded me for approaching the nest instead of silently watching as she usually did. So this morning I quietly told her it was ok, I was just going to take a picture and leave. I wouldn't hurt them.

And then - as I got closer the fledgling in the front of the nest (although he might have been on the ledge instead of actually in the nest) suddenly took off flying! He landed about 5 feet away in the neighbor's yard. I was struck with two simultaneous thoughts: "I got to see him fly!" and "I have to get a picture of him on the ground!" As I was lifting my camera up to take a picture, the other two baby robins took off! One landed just a couple of feet away, so I decided to take a picture of him instead. But I had only taken one step toward him when a multitude of adult robins came swooping out of the large maple tree nearby, flying toward me and squawking at me to keep away from the babies! I had no idea there were that many robins in that tree! (I told my students it must have been all the grandparents, aunts, and uncles of the baby robins!) I immediately decided that I didn't need a picture of the baby robins as I wasn't sure if the adults would actually attack me and I quickly got back to the deck and away from the babies.

I had no idea that adult robins would band together to protect three little fledglings, but I love it. And I'm so grateful that I got to see the babies fly away (although it might have been earlier than they had planned). And it was a great story to share with my second graders on the last day of school ... since they were going to fly away from second grade.

I do have a picture of the empty nest. It's still sitting on the window ledge on my back porch. 

I'm thankful God gave me this glimpse of nature and the chance to daily watch these new little lives grow during the end of May. I think of these little birds and wonder if they're sitting in my large maple tree. I think about how they grew and then flew off into their new world. And I remember my dad and wonder what he's doing in his new world. 

May 2015 will always remind me of my dad, my baby robins, and the miracle of life, in all it's forms.