bye bye birdie

The mama bird now has an empty nest.  The baby robins took their first flights today.  I was lucky enough to witness 2 of them flutter their wings and fly out into the yard.  I walked out on the porch to find 2 birds standing on the sides of the nest.  I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped a pic, but then was so shocked to see one take off.  I was afraid that I may have scared him into jumping, so I held my breath as he flapped his wings so hard to make it safely out by the treehouse.  Once he made it there, he just hopped around checking it out.  I was amazed - so I sat and waited to watch baby bird #2 make the same trip.  It was so  neat to see the mama and daddy bird catch up with the baby birds and feed them in the yard.  Baby bird #3 looked scared...he stayed down in the nest and kept hiding whenever we made a noise on the porch.  I saw the mama bird come check on him a couple of times.  Unfortunately, while I was mowing, I saw the dogs sprint off the porch and sniff something on the ground...my heart broke to find baby bird #3 didn't have a successful first flight.  I was so awe-struck and heartbroken by nature in the same day - and so motivated to research more about robins.  Did you know that robins never return to the nest once they leave?  They start sleeping in tree branches like adult robins.  Did you know that most don't live past a year...but if they do, they can live 5 or 6 years?  Did you know that a mama bird typically lays 3 groups of eggs a season.  The first nest is typically 3-4 eggs, then usually only 2 eggs after that.  Did you know that once a robin hatches, it only stays in the nest 12 -14 days?  I told Ryan that if he doesn't get the nest down soon, we may go through this cycle again.

Baby bird #1:

Baby bird #2:

Mama Bird looking after her new flyer: