Empty Nest Syndrome

Two robins left the nest around 2PM today, the last two were restless all afternoon (second photo above), and flew the coop between 6 and 7 PM. I was cooking dinner and did not get to see them go. Bye-bye birdies. What a gift this has been to see them develop so fast, from blind, little, reptilian-looking creatures, to fully feathered juveniles. What a pleasure to watch them feeding, to see the care given by their parents (and I do not care if the parental behavior is a hard-wired instinct, it is still care taking in a tough world). Last evening, on my walk around the neighborhood, I no longer saw robins on the lawns and in gardens, flipping over leaves and mulch searching for worms...I saw parents. So the babies have left to a wider world and now the most difficult passage of their life begins, life as imperfect flyers in a neighborhood full of cats, skies full of hawks, and streets full of cars. Robins have a 80% mortality rate, but I have a deep hope that Huey, Dewey, Louie and Scrub will beat the odds.

Happy nature!