baby robins + an amazing bird moment

Robins have built a nest right in our pool deck again. 

They've been doing it for at least half a dozen years, probably more...

I wonder if it's the same original pair 

or their offspring 

or their grand-birds?

Welcome, little friends!

It's a real treat to get to watch their development day by day,

though we try not to disturb the nest too much.  

They'll be fledglings before we know it.  

Time flies when you're growing feathers.

Speaking of fledglings... 

We had an amazing bird moment today!

You'll have to use your mind's eye to imagine it...

(I knew that if I left to get my camera, it would be gone / over...

and I'm not one of those people who has my cell phone attached to me all the time.)

Boo was near tears because it felt so lucky and so special 

that it happened right in our yard, about 10 feet or so in front of us.

I just stood there with my eyes big and mouth agape in awe,

wanting to take it all in.  

We were just out and about strolling through the gardens 

looking to see what changes the rain had brought...

and then I spotted it -- a pileated woodpecker fledgling!!!

We watched it in silence.  

It was learning so much.

It was learning about its feet 

grasping the side of an old tree branch 

that we had propped next to our fence.

It was learning about its wings

It was learning about its beak,

 tentatively pecking at a garden post.

It was learning about it's vision,

moving its head all around to look at the big world.

After a few moments, the mother swooped in next to it,

and we watched as she put her beak inside the fledgling's beak

and with those undulating movements

passing through her throat, delivering some food,

 which it gratefully gobbled down.

Then we saw the mother fly off and take a watchful stance 

not too close, but not too far. 

The fledgling tested its wings in flight,

landing in one of our garden beds

like a model airplane without enough aerodynamic lift. 

After a brief rest, 

the fledgling made it back to an old maple tree,

and slowly made the ascent up the tree 

with a combination of walking and wing-work.

It's possible that the nest is in the tree we saw it return to,

so we'll keep looking for activity there and really try not to disturb them.

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Wow!!!!

 It was a totally magical bucket list moment,

and I didn't even know it was on my bucket list.  

:)

I'm grateful to all of the birds for sharing life with us.