Fireworks and Feathered Friends

There is nothing like being in the States on the 4th of July, especially when I'm sitting on our dock watching fireworks.

Many people in the area set off fireworks, including the town of Priest River, so I had, along with friends that joined me, ring side seats to an impressive display.

Before Roger went back to Australia, he noticed a nest being built on the ledge of our roof.  It went from, "Is that a nest being built?" to the next day, "Well, the neighbours have moved in."

In the last 12 days I had the priviledge to see the evolution of the robins' beginnings.  In essence, I had a "bird's eye view" of the female sitting on the eggs, seeing them newly hatched, and then today when they finally left the nest.

Day 1   At first I thought there were just 3 babies, but one must have been hiding.

The mother would have a worm in her beak, sit for a minute or two on the beam, and then fly to the nest.  Feeding went on for hours each day.

The tufts of head feathers reminded me of Charlie Brown's bird, Woodstock.

Day 7   Getting bigger!

 Incredible how fast they grew on a diet of worms.

The nest was right across from our outdoor patio furniture, and our bedroom window so it was easy to get photos and the mother wasn't bothered by my coming and going.  This picture was taken on Day 11.

Day 12.  I woke up this morning to see the robins had started to leave their nest.  One was sitting on the bar of the hammock chair waiting for the others to join him.

This one waited hours before he finally left.  Kind of like the 30 year old still living in his parent's basement!

Checking out the scenery.  You can see how the red is starting to replace the spotted breast.

I've never seen anything like this before and it was a wonderful experience, however, I noticed the ospreys circling the property like cars waiting to go through a McDonald's drive through.  Let's hope my feathered friends stay safe and have a great life at Rusty Tractor Springs.

"God loved the birds and invented trees.  Man loved birds and invented cages."

                                                                                                       Jacques Deval