April Wamhoff

It probably doesn’t take an ornithologist to figure out I have birds on the island. Fact is, I have lots of birds on the island.  I resist naming them but sometimes that’s hard. Some come back year after year and they are my friends. Others are relative newcomers and I hope they stick around to become my friends. Case in point, the Robin family, who have recently moved in above the electrical box.
I’m like the nosey neighbor with my eyes in between the curtains watching them. Really. I closed the curtains so that I don’t bother them. Bad neighbor relations, you know. But I just can’t resist taking a peek. Just to check on them, you know...
The Robins moved in, very quietly, a few months ago. Just the two of them with very little baggage. Just a few twigs and brushy stuff it seems. Quietly they built what was to be their new home on the electrical box. They picked a good location, I think, for a robin home. It is very sheltered from the elements. Almost no wind can reach them and it is under the eaves of the house so no rain either. 
There must have been some sense of urgency to get that house built as very shortly, or so it seemed to me, they had quite the family in there. At first I saw 2 little, featherless heads peeking up over the edge of the nest. How cute! Twins! It wasn’t but a short time later I saw another head. Well, I’ll be: triplets. Only as the babies got bigger and the nest obviously got more crowded, did I realize there are actually four babies. Oh, my goodness!
And now those babies, probably teenagers in bird-y terms, are always hungry. Very early in the mornings they are up with their mouths pointed skyward so mom and dad can drop some chow in. And those mouths are positioned, at the ready, all day it seems. It has been mentioned to me that maybe I should get them some worms and help out with the feeding. I’m not necessarily opposed to that idea but with all the drowned worms and bugs from the rains, I think that the wild pickin’ should be fairly easy.
It is getting to the time now that I’m starting to really worry about the teenagers. The nest is really crowded and according to the internet they are going to leave, called fledging, very soon. At about 9-16 days of age they will start to leave and they will all be gone in about 24 hours. So much for long good-byes.
The bad part about the location is they will land on a cement pad when they go. Well, they would have. I put a very cushy blanket under the nest so I hope that helps. I’m not quite sure how much of a thud those little guys would have made, really. Just saying...
I will miss them when they go but the adult Robins could stay and have up to two more broods this season. I don’t know if my heart can stand the stress. I worry about the whole family. Still, they are great neighbors, the Robins. I hope they stay and come back next year.
Update: The evening after I wrote this the robin babies were gone. Fly straight and be safe little fellers.  Thank you for staying while you did. I’m gonna miss you.