Neighborhood Animals!

[orin stepanek]

Update on the baby robins! They have grown quite a bit and have feathers now! They do a lot of squawking waiting for mama robin to bring more grub! I think she will be telling them to find there own food and learning to fly pretty soon!

[rstevenson]

I don't know what this young one was doing out so early this evening, but here he is. [click to enlarge]

He wasn't put off by me and the camera. He's one of a long line of 'coons who have lived around here for ages, so he's used to me and knows I won't bother him.

I'm not quite sure what he was trying to do in the crabapple tree. They usually hang out in it in the Fall, nibbling on crabapples after they're past their prime and then acting all silly like they got drunk on them. But there's nothing there now except the blossoms. Looks like a good crop this year -- yummm! (Not yum for the crabapples themselves, but yum for the jelly I make from them with a little added homegrown Rosemary.)

Rob

[geckzilla]

While waiting around on a sidewalk today I watched a little fledgling sparrow hopping around the curb near a small, dirty puddle. She was so small and seemed in need of help but I knew the parents were watching and after several minutes of waiting the dad came and gave some food. It was quite a busy street with many people walking and loud buses pulling up to the nearby bus stop and they all scared him back to his tree several times but he finally caught a break and fed the little one. This is life for the street birds of NYC. I'm sure almost nobody else takes notice of these things.

[Ann]

What a lovely picture, Rob! It seems so exotic to me - a raccoon in a crab apple tree! Our crab apple trees also look lovely right now, but there are certainly no raccoons in them. But maybe there will be in the future. People have brought raccoons to Europe, and some of them have escaped from captivity and made themselves at home on European soil. Their numbers are rising.

Geckzilla, what a sweet and sad story about the little sparrow and its father on a busy New York street!

Ann

[orin stepanek]

The robin episode continues on! Today my dog almost had a robin for breakfast; but I was fast enough to prevent it> I looked up toward the nest when I took sassy out the back door and saw the nest was occupied. There was one tidbit I hadn't noticed and that was that one of the birds was trying his wings! Sassy found the bird and luckily the robin darted away and I picked Sassy up and took her out the gait. I don't know where the bird went after that except that mama robin has been quite busy today; going back and forth; feeding the two birds at the nest and teaching Jr. to fly! It seems as she is trying to get the two at the nest to stay put; (they have been in and out of the nest walking on the beam;) until she is confident #3 is airborne enough to fend for himself!

[orin stepanek]

The nest is empty; birds have gone! They flew all away!
Mama robin still watches them; as they fly and play.

They were gone this morning; but I was able to spot one this afternoon as one of the small fry returned near his birthplace sitting in my garden. I noticed mama robin was still keeping an eye on them as she was sitting close by!
I had a lot of fun watching these robins develop from mama building her nest sitting on her eggs and the little birds finally maturing to where they went out into the world.

Click to view full size image

[Ann]

Orin, how lovely!

Robins aren't that common around where I live, and I have never seen robin eggs. I couldn't believe the color of them!

I'm very glad that the little robins all seemed to make it! I'm glad that mama robin keeps a watchful eye!

But, Orin, I need an English lesson from you. You wrote:

Sassy found the bird and luckily the robin darted away and I picked Sassy up and took her out the gait.

You took Sassy out the gait? I know that gait means something like "manner of walking", and when I googled it I didn't really find any other translations. It doesn't seem to fit the sentence you wrote here. Do you mean, simply, that you managed to stop Sassy in her tracks and made her go somewhere else?

Ann

[owlice]

I'm reasonably sure he means "gate," which is a homophone of "gait."

IIRC, European robins (what are called robins there, anyway) are much smaller (and super cute) than, and look different from our very common robin.

[Ann]

Owlice wrote:
I'm reasonably sure he means "gate," which is a homophone of "gait."

Of course. Thanks, owlice.

Ann

[orin stepanek]

Owlice wrote:
I'm reasonably sure he means "gate," which is a homophone of "gait."

Of course. Thanks, owlice.

Ann

Oops! Yes of course owlice is right. My garden is fenced in and it also serves as a kennel for Sassy! I took her out of the fenced in area through the gate. We had a heavy cloudburst Friday which was scary for a while. Two of the little ones at that time were still in the nest but the one was learning about the weather.

[Beyond]

Or, just taking a shower instead of a dust bath.

[orin stepanek]

The other day I saw what I think was an eagle, but was gone by the time I got my camera! There are a few bald eagles around the river and come flying over town every once in a while!