And Then There Was An Empty Nest

Leland and I discovered that we had a robin's nest in the pine tree we have in some landscaping near the house. We found it just in time, the eggs hatched 2 days after I took the egg photo. Leland was eager to check on his baby birds everyday. I had told him to be careful not to touch the tree or the momma bird would smell us and she wouldn't come back to take care of the babies. He rememered this and would tell me each time we looked at the birds. I also kept telling him that one day the babies would get big and they would leave the nest, I don't think he quite understood this. Last Sunday I went to look at the babies while Leland was napping. As I approached with my camera one of the babies decided it was going to take the plunge. Later that day Nate walked over to see what was going on in the nest and the last 2 decided to take the plunge. That meant we now had an empty nest. Thankfully Leland had checked on his babies earlier that morning. When I told him that the babies had left the nest he wanted to know when we could buy some more baby birds. I was amazed at how fast the birds grew and am thankful that human babies take a lot longer to leave the nest. Even though it will be quite some time before we experience an empty nest looking at the empty birds nest was very symbolic, especially after watching the eggs from the beginning!!!