Musings on a Small Life

While I was in Vancouver, robins built a nest in the shrub right by my front step and door. (A few years ago robins had built a nest in the same shrub, but further in and not so close.) The eggs hatched either on June 25 or 26, and the babies that survived flew off sometime between Sunday afternoon (when I got home) and 10 AM Monday morning (when I left for an appointment). It was hard to get any pics, because of the shrub's branches, but here's their progress. Sadly, the third smaller/weaker one must have been pushed out about a week ago, as s/he was there on July 2nd, but not on the 4th. I know it's Nature's way, but it's still harsh. The last snapshot, above, is from the morning of Sunday July 9. I hope the two that survived to fledge make it; I understand (from a quick Google search) that 50% of robins don't survive their first year. I admit I'm glad they're gone, though. I was trying be as quiet and as slow as possible, going and coming, but it was...

No, no more adoptions! LOL. I finally was able to get a so-so snapshot of the baby robins (three of them) in the nest tucked into the cedar shrub outside the front door. Not great, because of all the branches, but you still can see all three beaks. Or parts thereof. They're finally big enough to be seen, and Derry certainly enjoys watching the parents come and go in the early mornings, feeding them. (I put a stool in front of the screen door for him.) I wish Derry would eat more, but oh well. He likes the Royal Canin urinary + hydrolyzed protein dry, but is meh on the Hills z/d canned, even with the beef liver topper I add, or the FortiFlora. Well, he's almost 15 (about 76 in human years), and my own appetite might not be great when I'm that age either. As for other critters, I did luck out with a snapshot of a woodpecker earlier this week, while on my morning jaunt for a latté, and also managed to snap a pic of a rabbit, who froze in someone's driveway, while I fumbl...