My son and daughter-in-law wrote me about a heart-warming experience they had and I thought you'd enjoy this charming story. Here's Patti's own account of what happened. Enjoy!
A baby robin recently came to stay at my house. Pushed out of it's nest by the mother robin, "Robby" soon adopted my husband and me as surrogate parents.
Gregg and I rushed to fill our roles. I took the 6:00 a.m. and the 12:00 noon feeding and Gregg took the 5:00, 7:00 and 10:30 p.m. feedings. I "walked" Robby around the yard, trying to acclimate him to grass and trees while Gregg turned over the dirt in the garden each evening looking for worms.
Robby quickly learned to hop to the top lip of his box at feeding time, luckily making it easier to push the worms, raw hamburger and water down his throat. He had a very persistent and obnoxiously loud chirp and he didn't hesitate to let us know when he was hungry.
Imagine our pride the first time Robby flew. He only made it a foot or so, but still, it was our first indication he was going to survive our amateur attempts to keep him alive. The next evening, I came home from work to find my husband helping Robby learn to fly.
The bird would clumsily fly off the table and crash onto the deck and Gregg would patiently pick him up and put him back on the table. Over and over they did this, until Robby could fly the length of the deck and land on Gregg's arm.
Robby's favorite place to be was perched on my shoulder. He would stay there as long as I could stand the chirping in my ear and we would often water the plants and flowers in the yard together.
Then one day Robby learned to peck at food and I knew he'd soon be on his own. We started spending less time with him and encouraged him to explore the outdoors more. One night he took off on a long solo flight straight into the middle of the street. We scooped him up and put him back in his box for the night.
I never even got to say goodbye. The following morning, as soon as I took the lid off his box, he squawked at me (I am an ugly sight in the morning) and took off on his longest flight yet...straight out of our yard and out of sight. Although I felt sad that he left so soon, there was also a feeling of accomplishment that we may have helped him survive.
Although we left food out for him we haven't seen him yet. I know I've heard him, though. I'd recognize that chirp anywhere!