Under the Deck

On the back of our house we have a deck that has some rocks underneath. Our plan is to put a patio there but for now it is just a flat area with rocks that no one really uses. It has been really rainy this spring so we haven't been outside much. Several weeks ago we finally had to mow the lawn. When we were mowing there were 2 robins that kept dive bombing us whenever we would go near the deck. Hmm, suspicious. So we took a closer look. This is what we found:

A nest of 4 very small birds. At first they were so small we could only see them when we would watch out of the basement windows and the mom would bring them food. They would pop up and keep their mouths open waiting for their mom to feed them. When she would fly away the babies would lay back down in the nest and be very quiet. Neither mom or dad would go to the nest if anyone was nearby so we were stuck viewing from the inside basement window. Over the next few weeks we watched the birds grow to the point where the nest was very crowded and the birds could no longer hide when mom and dad were gone. Then last week, Nick was walking under the deck and Tom went to grab him. All of the babies got freaked out and jumped out of the nest. They were nearly grown and even had their colored feathers. 3 babies flew to a nearby tree but the 4th baby could not fly. Oh no! If we leave the bird on the ground the cat will get it for sure. So Tom put on some gloves and picked up the baby and put it in the nest. The bird hopped right back out, silly thing. Finally, after the 3rd try the bird stayed in the nest. Meanwhile mommy and daddy birds were bombing us and squawking. We quickly left hoping for the best. When we took a look that evening the nest was empty. We haven't seen any bird bodies in the garage (Sonya's favorite spot to leave them) and no one has returned to the nest. Hopefully all birds are faring well.

It has been so fun for all of the kids, the big ones too, to watch these birds grow. I don't know if robins reuse nests but I think I will leave the nest there until next spring and hope that they come back. If they don't well, I guess Isaac can use it for show and tell. He will at least have a good story to share.