With the coming of each season, I am always happy for the change. Spring has to be the most exhilarating of the seasons because new life is either beginning or being roused from it's winter sleep. This year I have had the opportunity to witness a robin find a location, design, build and "move in" to her nest.
So to answer the question to my post title, the robin came first. Shortly afterward, she laid her eggs and began incubating them. Did I mention that this nest is directly eye-level out my kitchen window in the eves of my porch? It has been interesting to watch this event unfold. But, the most interesting and fulfilling event has a small and ongoing story behind it...
Its not uncommon to find those turquoise-blue robin eggs broken or shattered on the ground--tossed or blown from their haven by the winds of a spring storm. It was in the last days of April that I was walking in our driveway--a gravel driveway, mind you--that I found one of those lovely robin eggs laying in the stone. I was surprised to find that it wasn't cracked or broken beyond salvageability. There was a small crack, ever so tiny...but the membrane was still very much intact. I weighed the options as to what to do with this little bit of life that natural selection was about to end. I knew the nest of our newest avian "renter" was only feet away...Did this egg come from her nest or someone else's? I couldn't be sure.
I drug the ladder from the garage and climbed up the rungs to inspect the nest. The color of the egg I found was the same as the two already in the nest. Not a fool-proof clue, but one I used to give myself hope that this little egg was in fact, hers. Taking a chance, I gently placed the egg in the nest and sent a small prayer flying to God to protect this life, guard it and let it hatch--if it were to be His will. I would know in a few days or weeks if the egg had a viable life inside.
Days went by. I am not sure how many. I just kept watching Miss Robin--or Mrs. or Ms.--I'm not sure what she goes by... But for all intents and purposes, I've been calling her "Miss Robin", or "Mama". More days went by. Nothing.
It was now around the beginning of May, Miss Robin's brood finally hatched. I watched her fly in and out of the nest, tirelessly bringing sustenance to her young charges. I was so excited to be witness to this! But upon closer inspection of the nest and babies, to my dismay, only two of the three eggs hatched. The niggling doubt that had been in my head that the abandoned egg was no longer viable had seemed to become a fact. Dismayed at the loss and that my efforts were in vain, I was still happy that life had begun for two of the babies.
Now that she had "young'uns", I didn't want to remove the unviable egg and disturb the hatchlings. I figured I would let nature take it's true course and not intercede again.
More days went by and the hatchlings were growing quickly. It seemed like at one moment you could hardly see those gigantic beaks protruding over the edge of the nest. In the next moment, the beaks and gangly necks were an inch over the top of their home. But to my surprise, one day I counted three gaping beaks instead of two! I climbed the ladder and peeked into the nest and there was the third chick! The broken remnants of its housing lay open in a corner of the nest. The chick was a little smaller, but fighting for it's place at the "table". The third egg lived!
I was worried to see the older hatchlings pushing the "runt" away when Mama came with her earthworm and insect vittles. It seems to be holding its own though. My only fear now is that the babies will outgrow their surroundings and one will get shoved from the confines of safety. I have half a notion to fashion some sort of net underneath the nest, just in case.
One may wonder why I worry and fret over a bird and her babies. I guess I wonder too. But, keep in mind this post is being authored by the same woman who rescued a half-frozen cat off of a four-lane U.S highway. (Yes the cat lived and is in our home, thriving. But, that's a story for another day.) When it comes to birds, my husband says, "Great...more poopers to crap on my windshield." I however, do not hold his views, obviously.
I have to say I am beginning to feel like a character in a book I recently read...Her name was Georgie Gail, a telephone operator, or "the hello gal" by the townspeople, in a small Texas town just as telephone service was coming to the area. She had an obsessive fascination with birds... The book is entitled "Love on the Line" by Deeanne Gist. I have read all of Gist's books and they are very good. So if you are looking for some Historical Christian Romance Fiction, check it out. I put Ms. Gist's link in the sidebar under "People to Know".
I am reminded of the words in Matthew 6:26 "Look at the birds of the air: they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly father feeds them..." and again in Matthew 10:26 "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father."
Whether is was God's plan that I intercede on behalf of that little egg or it was just my free will putting a glitch in the big picture, I don't know. I do know that if I had done nothing, it wouldn't have sat right with my conscience. My hope is that when I see Christ someday he will remember my small act and say, "thank you for watching out for the sparrow"...or in this case, the robin.
Hatchlings' Progress...
All three babies May 9, 2012
All three babies May 12, 2012--only three days later!
