Yesterday afternoon, a pair of robin fledglings tumbled out of a nearby tree. They hopped through a rabbit’s crawl-space under the fence, then spent several hours exploring our back yard…
American Robin
Failed Nests
The yard’s nests are having a tough year. In April, I discovered a robin’s nest in the wax myrtle. A few days later, a heap of feathers hinted that hawks had claimed another victim. Broken eggs soon joined the feathers.
Now the recent dove’s nest is also empty. I don’t know what happened, only that the nest held two eggs one day, none the next.
Both losses tempt me toward sadness, but how dare I claim sadness? Failed nests are blissfully minor tragedies. Wouldn’t it be a joyous day, if the only news worth reporting involved bird nests?
Cloudy Skies for the 2012 Transit of Venus
After a few days of intermittent rain, the sky has thickened into an impenetrable gloom. Just in time for the transit of Venus. 😦 Fortunately, NASA has scheduled a webcast.
And there’s no doubt the sun will return in time. It always does.
From the Robin Archives
Today is one of those days. An achy, sleepy, over-tired day of necessary errands and unnecessary complications. An unoriginal day, tiresomely mundane. Unread books murmur from every shelf, unfinished taxes whisper anxiety, and unwalked trails sing a muddy siren song that I have no time to heed.
It’s a day to cover my ears, charge the camera’s batteries, and visit the archives. Here’s a photo from May 2010, one of my all-time favorites.
Rae Spencer 