Backyard Birdwatch: First to Fly(?)

Time: 6:20-7:00 a.m.

Weather Report: Mostly Cloudy, 74°F, 65% Humidity, Winds: SSW @ 7 mph; feels like 76°F.

Location: The backyard of my home in the upstate New York City of Rochester. (See map at the bottom of the left column for spacial reference.)

Bird Species/Markings/Features:--2 American Robin (AR), 1 male (AR1) and 1 female (AR2), 2 fledgings; 1 in the nest (ARF2) and one in the yard (ARF1).

Sights/Sounds/Activities: There is quite a bit of traffic noise this morning, due to the cloud cover. Today, one of the fledgings, ARF1 came out of the nest. I went into the backayrd this morning not intending to watch the birds but rather to keep and eye on our dog becuase the fence was down (see "Notes" below).

After sniffing around for a moment, Gracie (the dog) quickly sauntered toward a bird, which at first glance appeared to be a small female house sparrow. I found it unusual because Gracie doesn't usually like to play with the birds, but she went toward the bird who was sitting on my neighbor's lawn. I called to Gracie, who immediately came and went into the house.

At this time I realized there was suddenly quite a bit of bird chatter coming from a male Americn Robin (AR1) sitting on a nearby tree. I identified where the Amercian Robin fledging, ARF1, was in the yard next door near a plastic chair.





As soon as I snapped the two pics above, the AR1 dropped from his perch in the tree to the lawn. I think he sensed that I was only watching (as I had been for almost three weeks) and the chatter subsided. He did however call to the female (AR2), who responded to his long call with a short, quick, retort. Note in the pic below that both ARF1 and AR1 are circled in yellow.



It had been a while that ARF1 had been in the lawn and I knew that soon (very soon) my neighbor's puppy would be coming out. Just a puppy, and undisciplined, he would surely pounce on ARF1 and kill it. I felt a little better when AR1 drew closer. Something in me hoped he would prompt the fledging into our yard, where I hoped it would be safer. This did not happen. After coming about two feet from ARF1, AR1 popped into a small bush nearby.



AFter 30 minutes, I was conflicted as to what to do. As an observer, do I intervene? Could I do so effectively. With a heavy heart, I left the situation, hoping things would work out. I couldn't stick around to see that puppy come out.

When I checked back an hour later there was no sign of ARF1. I did notice AR1 on the fence looking and chattering into the yard behind ours, so my hope is that ARF1 made it there safely.

Notes: Yesterday I began removing the old stockade fence between mine and my neighbor's yards. Although the fence ran behind a fairly large garden consisting of grasses and peonies, which create a sort of natural fence, the removal of the fence creates the allusion of there being one larger yard where onece there were two smaller ones.