A Robin's Diary

Posted July 29, 2003

A Robin's Diary By Howard Greer

Each year we witness the universal life cycle drama in microcosm, by observing the robins who attempt to set up housekeeping in the Hollies, Yews and Junipers. While it is obvious from the abundance of robins that many of these endeavors have the hoped for happy ending, many also do not. This year two nests with young robins hatched in each had unfortunate endings. One day they simply were empty. Whether by snake, neighbor cat, squirrels, or perhaps other birds, the young disappeared within a few days of hatching. I don't know their fate, but it became apparent to me that the difficulties all birds face in keeping our planet stocked with the perpetual soul music is great, and the odds for survival are not all that favorable.

One such robin adventure occurred last spring in our backyard. Fortunately, I spotted it early enough prior to the chicks being hatched, which enabled me to set up one of my six X10 WideEye InstantON cameras overlooking the nest. I recorded to video tape approximately 6 hours of video with audio each day until the adventure ended. Reviewing the tapes has given me a much greater appreciation for the wonder of nature and the dedication of these robin parents to their babies and to each other.

I have selected video from each day to share via the Internet this adventure as described from one of the chicks' point of view. The videos are obviously reduced in size and in .WMV file format to accommodate some reasonable access, and will be best viewed by broadband users. The WMV files will probably require that Windows Media Player 7.1 or higher be installed on your PC. Please join Adam, Eve, Mi, and Mishado and the sights and sounds of their fifteen days in May. Click here to enter.

Sincerely,
Howard Greer
Louisville Kentucky

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