Did I mention in a previous blog that I have a little robin pal? He’s been with me through two winters, coming up very close and expecting his own private pile of rolled oats. Sometimes he comes so close to my foot that I have to be careful not to kick him accidentally. Sometimes he sits on a branch of a tree or shrub close to my shoulder. In colder weather he’s often waiting for me by the back door when I first go out in the morning. Just lately he’s taken to following me around the garden, even when he isn’t particularly interested in my oaten offerings. Mostly he is, though, and I’ve noticed that he takes beaks full of the stuff off to a nearby hedgerow. I assume he’s either feeding his mate who is sitting her eggs, or he’s already got chicks with gaping mouths.
This worries me. The hedge is on the other side of the lane that runs along the bottom of my garden. It carries traffic; not much, but enough to cause me concern. I’ve become very fond of the little guy.
Today he flew over to me when I was checking the progress of the vegetable plots. I put a pile of oats down as usual and he filled his beak, before flying off in the direction of the lane. There was the roar of an engine, and I saw that a tractor was coming at speed up the lane. Vehicle and bird looked to be on a collision course and my heart was in my mouth.
The robin veered away from the lane and settled on the lawn until the tractor had passed. Then he continued his mission when the lane was empty. Dumb animals? I’ve known humans with less sense.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
i hope your little robin friend makes it. the thought of one bird in a mating pair dying is heartbreaking...it makes me think of the bird in whitman's "out of the cradle endlessly rocking"--any bird who loses a mate is automatically the bird in that poem. last week in my "birds and critters" class the teacher described a male bluebird she watched raise babies on his own after the disappearance of his mate, and i almost started crying.
side note...have you ever noticed that the people who call animals "dumb" are often really fucking stupid themselves?
I had noticed, yes. I get such a thrill every morning when my robin turns up and looks me in the eye from a distance of inches.
That robin sounds adorable! And yes, animals do have sense. It's just amazing, how you think they'r about to be run over and you think GET OUT OF THE WAY, but they fly away just in the nick of time.
Birds vary a lot. Pheasants are the worst. They wander around the road looking confused. It saddens me greatly to see the line of bodies along the road at certain times of the year. Crows, on the other hand, are brilliant at judging just when to move.
Post a Comment