Robins make a home

by Bev McIntyre
(St. Thomas, Ont. Canada)

This article was submitted by one of our readers in St Thomas, Ontario, thank you Bev!

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We live in St. Thomas, Ontario. Much to our surprise, a robin built a nest on the top of our coach light on our rear deck so, needless to say, we cannot use the light.

The female laid 4 eggs - all of which have now hatched and left the nest.

The largest of the chicks made a clear getaway last Saturday and on Sunday one of the chicks attempted to fly out of the nest across the pool (24' round) and almost cleared it, except it landed at the edge of the winter cover, just on top of the water.

My husband grabbed the skimmer & helped the chick out of the water onto the yard.

The mother Robin watched the entire happening & dropped to the ground once we had left.

The last 2 chicks left the nest today (Tuesday) but one tried to fly too far & ran into the side of a shed in our rear neighbours yard.

It is obviously OK since we saw it sitting on our fence top, so went out to check it - the chick was fine & we were able to get almost close enough to touch it without it moving.

I find these creatures of God very fascinating and am in awe of them.

My husband said he will remove the nest this weekend, but I wish it could remain in the hopes the same female will return to raise another brood, however, it is a little nerve-wracking watching to make sure all the family is fine and in all likelihood will survive.