Monday's Musings

Yesterday while we were sitting outside enjoying the beautiful day, I became aware of an incessant chirping and discovered a baby robin hopping along the side of the deck calling for his mother.  This little fledgling was one of the cutest little things I ever laid eyes on.

We were concerned for his welfare and waited anxiously for one or both of his parents to return, but to no avail.  Finally, Keith decided to place him in the large honeysuckle bush hoping that the nest was buried unseen, deep within the branches.  Well, fiesty baby robin was having none of that!  He immediately jumped back down to the ground to continue his quest.

As twilight approached, we became more concerned that we hadn't seen any adult robins, and baby was blindly hopping into "stray cat territory".  As he ventured into the neighbor's yard, other birds began to go crazy with chirping.  There were grackles, sparrows and cardinals grouped together in the trees, all anxiously flying about in what sounded to us to be a warning.   Sure enough, we spotted the cause of all the commotion - a stray cat!

Much to our delight, we spotted baby robin's mother.  She placed herself between her youngster and the cat, swooping down (just out of reach), and acting as a decoy for the cat.  Keith also ran some interference, making the cat vacate the premises, and we were happy to see Mom finally land on the ground and carry a snack to her baby.

Watching Mom risk her own well being for her baby made me think about how moms of every species go to extraordinary measures to protect their young.  I know a lot of people would argue that humans are superior to all other species, but mostly, I just don't think we're all that different.  And that's my Monday's Musing.

CELEBRATE * LOVE * CREATE