Bird Life Cycles

I’ve had bird nests in my yard before, but never quite like this. A pair of robins built their nest right on the back patio directly outside of our sliding glass door. It’s been a joy to watch and my girls have become very attached to the robins.

Shortly after we first noticed the nest, my oldest found a speckled blue robin’s egg. She wanted me to return it to the nest, but I accidentally dropped it right after she handed it to me. She was devastated. Tears flowed. She sobbed that the baby bird had been murdered. Clearly this was not my best mommy moment. I felt horrible.

After hearing about my slip up someone told us that the egg probably hadn’t fallen out of the nest. It had likely been a dud that had been pushed out. With relief I told my daughter. She immediately exclaimed, “What? You mean we could have eaten that egg!” After all the tears over the broken egg, she wished we had cooked the robins’ egg. Oh, my!

We have spent many hours observing the babies grow. Both the mother and father have been very involved in getting worms. My littlest one has been especially fascinated. During one of the feeding sessions, she called out to the daddy bird, “Feed me. Eat worms too.” Oh dear! My toddler wants to eat worms.

I have a great disdain for worms. It’s a texture thing. They completely creep me out.The thought of eating them is…well, let’s just go with way beyond gross. Yet, my daughter wants the bird to chew up worms and feed her too. Thank goodness she doesn’t have any chance of that happening. Her mommy couldn’t handle it.

The baby robins have been busy growing and have learned to fly. We watched them as they left the nest, which is now empty. We’ve talked about growing up, growing your wings, and learning to fly. Although it’s been a great lesson in life cycles it makes me a little sad to think that one day my own little ones will do the same.