Better than TV

We now have four robin chicks living on the lamp outside our back door. Hull Family Robins are providing us with endless entertainment at all times of the day.

Mama and Papa Robin are so busy, constantly swooping in with bugs and worms. The instant they approach the nest, four little heads supporting enormous open beaks pop up waggling wildly, fighting to be the "tallest" to get the treat. It's awesome.

I'm hoping to be able to get a picture, but we've been doing our best to appear uninterested in the nest, just in case this matter to the parents. It doesn't help at all that they built it in the once place on our property that gets the MOST traffic. But they seem unperturbed so far -- if a parent is on the nest, it will swoop away when we open the door, but will return as soon as we're six feet away.

Actually, they're pretty feisty little fellas, those robins. This morning I was out on the porch, and suddenly, on the path between our neighbour's house and ours a black squirrel comes dashing out with Mama Robin totally attacking him. It was like a catfight. Only, with different animals. Squirrel shook her off near the road, but she stalked him across the street and down the neighbour's driveway. Curious. I suspect a tussle over a certain tasty buggy morsel. (Although, apparently robins are more into fruit than worms! Including tomatoes... I'll have to move my cherry tomatoes when they begin to ripen - they are currently sitting right beside the robin's nest!)

Something I never realized - the robins totally sleep at night. When we come home in the evening, there's Mama (or Papa! We've definitely witnessed two adult birds tending the brood) snuggled on top of the babies, apparently keeping watch. But we approach, open the door and go inside and she doesn't move a muscle - totally dead to the world asleep.

Even if we had cable, I think our fascination with the addition to the household would remain unabated. But I suspect, dear reader, that your fascination with this topic has likely waned -- if you've even read this far -- and so I will leave it at that. (Unless something really exciting happens! Like another squirrel-fight! Or First Flight of the Hatchlings!)