Saturday, May 15, 2010

A Tragic Ending


We have had a little Robin couple move into our tree in the backyard. It has been SO much fun watching them build their nest. They fly around the back yard squawking, picking up twigs and mud. They built a beautiful nest.


And then, the mommy bird started laying eggs. Oh what fun! The kids have been watching all of this happen and ask everyday if the birds have hatched. Jack asks over and over "see eggs?!?!" He loves being held up to look at them. We watched as she laid 4 eggs, one each day. And then she started laying on them, spending hours upon hours keeping her little ones warm. Hoping for them to hatch, so that she could feed her babies. We watched the papa bird, bring his mate food. Watch over her and squawk at everyone who came too close. We have had the pleasure of being able to keep our bedroom window open the last few nights to enjoy the fresh air. We also enjoyed hearing "our birds" sing.

The Mama


The Papa



All 4 eggs



Today, I looked out the window and didn't see the mama sitting on her eggs. It was eerily quite from our open window. I didn't see either the mama or the papa. I wasn't too concerned. Maybe they were out looking for food. Well, a couple of hours later I looked again, still no mama or papa. I went to take a closer look. This is what I found.

First a missing egg


The guilty looking party


And the proof



I hope the Mama and Papa come back and sit on the remaining eggs. It looks like one of them is cracked, so only 2 that look hopeful. Sad. I feel so bad for the poor mama.

9 comments:

Darcy said...

I love the photography. You did a good job.

Sassy Salsa girl said...

Ahhhhh! What kind a snake is that!

St. Julien's said...

How tragic!! We found a similar egg in our yard the other day. Scarlet was sure it was an easter egg with chocolate inside. I was scared to hold it too much incase there was a little bird body in it. eek. well the egg ended up getting stepped on and it was just regular gooey yolk...phew. What a cool experience for you guys. love it.

~~heather said...

HOLY CRAP that is so sad!! ROTTEN SNAKE!! What kind is it? *shudder* What a fun "Nat Geo" experience though! :)

Koreena said...

Ahhhhh! I hate snakes!! I hope the mom and dad birds come back! (Did you kill the snake or just let is slither off?)

Suzie said...

We have lots of snakes in our backyard, all of them are just regular old garden snakes. They come and visit from courtesy of the field in the backyard. I just hissed at it and it slithered off.

The birds are still not back. Looks like they have abandoned the nest. Sad.

Kristine said...

Oh how sad! What a creepy little devil snake! How the crazy did it get up to the nest?? Now I have the heeby geebies from that snake pic...ick!

Omgirl said...

That is tragic! And I can't believe you caught the culprit right there!

By the way, are you missing a silver necklace? I found one under a couch cushion today that I think you might have worn to my house that night after our dinner get-together. Let me know if it's yours.

Jill Freestone said...

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