Monday, May 17, 2010

King Arthur


King Arthur
Photo of young baby Robin by mlorenz | Shutterstock

I wrote this a couple years ago. Every Spring when the Robin's come back and I see them in the yard I think of the one I raised right out of his shell. The night before we had a bad storm, next morning branches and leaves were all over the yards. I noticed a bird nest and in it was a broken blue egg and a baby still half in the egg. I knew immediately it was a Robins nest. He was peeping so softly, I didn't know at first what to do. I proped the nest up and watched it for half a day and no mom came to his aide. I put the nest inside the house. I really was at a loss as what to do.

I was in luck, I remembered an article in our newspaper the day before on birds. I called the name of the man that wrote it. He said try to feed him cut up worms and if that did not work, try hamburger. I had a home made cat carrying case, I tipped it up on end, put some towels in and a heating pad under it, he was very cold and hungry. I fed him cut up worms, with a tweezer. I remembered to make sure I put them on top of his tongue and a little ways down his throat. His little mouth flew open as soon as I touched him. This worked great.

His little body turned from pink to a dark colored body as he started to grow. I put him in our bedroom window so he could hear the birds outside. To my luck a mother Robin had built in the tree outside the window. He could hear the babies chrip every time she came and fed them.

I made a nest for him when he was bigger, he was doing great on the worms. When he had all his feathers I hung the cage outside. Soon I let him outside with me to find worms, when I called him he came over and I threw him a worm. I would bury it in front of him and he would cock his head and dig it up. He always flew to the top of our garage roof and waited for me to call him.

I put him back in his cage at night and made sure I got up just as it was getting daylight. I was letting him free during the day and when he saw us sitting on the swing he would fly and land on our shoulders. I put water out and he would bath in it.

He was full grown but had his spots. One evening before I could put him back he flew to the neighbors trees. The next morning I went out back and before I could call him he came flying to me and I put my hand out and he flew to it. We had a neighbor cat that always hung out in our yard and I was affraid he would get him. I had to make a decision of what to do with him and to this day I wish I would of let him stay, I get tears in my eyes every time I think of my decision.

I called our State Park and ask them if I could put him there and they said okay. So we took him to a path that was less traveled. I opened the cage door and out he fles. It was like letting one of you children go away from home forever and never coming back. We went back a couple times during the week but no King Arthur, a very fitting name for a brave little Robin that show us his courage to survive in this great big world..I am ashamed I did not take pictures of his progress, the only one taken by our newspaper when he was half grown.

15 comments:

RHYTHM AND RHYME said...

A lovely story Margaret,very heart warming.
Hope you're ok,I have a cold which don't seem to completely go.
Thank for the visit.
Take care.
Yvonne.

Gigi Ann said...

What a sweet story. We have a couple here in our town who raised a pigeon. It goes with them everywhere. They own the car wash here in town, and it is always with them. I took some pictures of it one day, when we were at the car wash.

Judy said...

I just love this story. I know it must have been really hard to let him go. He owes you his life. I bet you looked at every robin for ages. I would have. Thanks for sharing this. It is so touching. Have a good week.

Anonymous said...

Goodness Margaret, You brought tears to my eyes. We get so attached to our animals don't we. Bobby G. tried to raise a baby bird he found once. He put the worms in my blender. He wasn't successful though and I never used that blender again. :)

Ramakrishnan said...

Dear Margaret

Such a wonderful heart warming story. Brought tears to my eyes.You were so tender & caring and the robin trusted you. Of course you were absolutely right to let him go back to nature.I once picked up a baby squirrel and brought him up on milk & nuts, when I was in school. This was a very long time ago sometime in the early 60's.

Best Wishes
Ram

Patty said...

What a wonderful story. Yes it would have been like letting one of your children go. It's amazing how us humans can get so attached to an animal, four legged or two legged. I remember one spring when I was down on my knees pulling weeds along the fence line, I noticed this robin close by and as I moved, it seemed to be following me, then I realized, as the dirt came loose, it was finding worms. The dirt was damp, so the weeds pulled up easily enough, but apparently also pulled up some small worms. That was the first time I had ever had a wild bird get that close to me, he didn't seem afraid at all.

Becky said...

What a wonderful moving story Margaret. I think you made the right decision. At least he most likely found friends and lived a very happy life thanks to you, AND the cat never had a chance.You would have felt much worse if that cat had had him for a meal.
I raised a Purple Martin one time and had to set it free too. It never came back either..
Have a wonderful rest of the week.
B

Merle said...

Dear Margaret ~ What a lovely story - you did very well raising
the robin and later releasing him.
Well done.
Thanks for coming by, my ex sister-in-law comes tomorrow for a few days, then a couple of cousins and we will all enjoy that. Take care my friend, Love,
Merle.

Linda said...

This is such a remarkable, wonderful story, Margaret! I wouldn't have known what to do.

Thanks for sharing it. I love Robins. :)

DeniseinVA said...

Hi Margaret, what a lovely story and what a marvelous experience. You were certainly that baby Robin's mommy angel to take care of him so. Very glad I popped in today to read it.

caspersmom said...

What a sweet story Margaret. Maybe it was meant to be to do what exactly you did. I know God took care of the Robin. We used to get Robins coming through where we used to live. A few times they stayed the summer there. A nest was built my a window in our den and I was keeping watch. Don't know what happened but they disappeared with no babies. Durn.

Yankee Girl ~ Missy said...

Great Story thanks for sharing!

Unseen India Tours said...

Fantastic story !! I loved this post !!

Urmi said...

Very beautiful and sweet story. The bird looks very intelligent and also cute. I like birds very much. Very nice and lovely post.

Lorie Shewbridge said...

What a wonderfully sweet story, you are such a caring and fabulous woman. Thank you for sharing this lovely post and the beautiful photograph.

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