Fledgling robins

We had a pair of robins set up housekeeping in our camellia bush this year, with the nest just 5 feet off the ground. We took down an 85-foot Douglas fir tree that stood nearby, and I like to think the robins chose another nesting spot nearby, rather than leaving the farm altogether.

My sister discovered the nest a couple of weeks ago while we were working in the yard. There were two tiny naked birds, all gaping mouth and not much else visible, with their anxious parents chirping from the overhanging pear tree. We quickly backed off and watched from indoors until one of the parents flew into the camellia with a mouthful of worm.

Since then I've kept an eye on the nest, putting on hold the weeding and pruning that needs to be done in the perennial garden there, to give the birds some space. Last week they were still in the nest, but today when we got home from a weekend in Portland, the babies had fledged.

I spotted them in the garden near their nest, sitting one above the other on an old branch that I use to prop up the speedwell when it gets leggy. Mom (or dad) kept a close watch on them. These chicks are most definitely robins, with speckled breasts that are already turning red.