I noticed, recently, an abundance of dead grass in a corner of our garage. The floor is kind of a mess anyway, so it took me a while to realize that the culprits were a couple of robins that had built a nest in one of the rafters. "Oh well," I thought, "I guess I won’t sweep in here for a few months."

Eventually, it occurred to me to see how things were going in there. I shouldn’t have been, but was surprised to see a couple of small beaks thrust up out of the nest! We brought Otis in, but being a four-month-old, he had no interest. So I took some pictures.

Fast forward another couple weeks and I checked on the chicks again before heading out for a run. They were much bigger, almost fully grown:

I took a few photos and then, all of a sudden, all four of the chicks freaked out and jumped out of the nest! They flew to the ground and scuttled off to hide in the back of the garage. I felt like a monster and figured the best thing to do would be for me to leave and hope their mother found them. So I left.

When I came back later, I noticed that one of them had made its way over to the big house and flew up to perch on the handrail to our back porch. He seemed a little grumpy, but otherwise fine. From inside, I noticed with great relief that the mother had found it and was going back and forth to the yard bringing back worms and bugs and feeding it right in front of our window! (She also seemed to be darting around to other spots in the yard, presumably to feed the other three grumpy chicks.)

I think everything’s going to be alright.