Empty nest syndrome

The little birds showed no desire to leave the nest, even as they outgrew the comfortable confines of their birthplace, jostling each other to get the best position.

Something told them this wouldn’t last.

Some readers wrote to ask for an update on the bird I called Rob8, nesting in our backyard shed with three baby robins. I called her that in honor of my grandson who at this stage of life writes his name as Rob7 because 7 is his favorite number.

A lot of has changed since we last looked in on the robins on June 6, shown below.

I think the chicks must have been about a week old when I set up the camera, which allowed me to watch them remotely.

I watched them grow for the next week or so. Someone I’ve been married to for 45 years suggested I was obsessed. She had a point.

I read up on robins and how the female and male adults take part in raising the young ones. They have a routine to deliver food, clean the nest by removing waste and maintain law and order.

By June 12 the chicks filled up the nest and then some, trying to get comfortable in quarters they had outgrown but couldn’t let go of. I wonder if days of bumping into each other is one of the signals that tells them it’s time to go.

One day later, they began to step out of the nest and onto the extension cord and the metal shelf, about four feet above the floor. It takes time to learn that there’s a world beyond the nest.

Here is when the first bird stretched its wings, reared back and flew off. The third bird was hiding just outside of the camera range.

The second bird did a lot of singing when the nest cleared out. That one took off within a few hours, leaving the smallest behind.

The third young robin stayed until the next day. It hopped about on the shelf and extension cord for quite a while before deciding there were better places to be.

Watch as it jumps off and flutters to the ground, not quite a frequent flyer.

And just like that, they were gone.

The empty nest remains with a solitary blue egg that never hatched.

Just outside, especially in the early morning hours, I can hear the robins singing.