Tuesday Musings.

This morning’s trek was pretty much over even before it started. Though it rained in the early hours, as it neared time to leave on my walk, I peered out the window and was pleasantly surprised. Yay - no rain! But, just to be sure, before I got all suited up, I did the most-accurate rain check and stuck my arm out the front door. Nope - no raindrops. It was still chilly, around 50 degrees, and the morning air was murky and misty looking. But, I’m no quitter, and have not yet abandoned reaching that 1,051- miles-walked-in-2018 goal. I threw on a jacket, jammed some packs of peanuts into the cargo pockets and set out. I was a block or two away and the sprinkles started. Muttering under my breath, I headed back home, thoroughly disgusted with the weather once again. We’ve had about six inches of rain, three times the normal amount, in the month of May alone. Likely, we gained another inch today as it was a torrential rainfall most of the afternoon.

At least I can write about yesterday’s walk and give you a dose of cuteness.

Monday, as I wended my way to Council Point Park, I stopped to check on the newly discovered robin family which I wrote about in Sunday’s blog post. Their nest is in the eaves trough of a home in the neighborhood. You may recall that I included their photo, four of them staring at a robin perched in a nearby tree, most likely their Mama, as I walked past them.

A quick glance yesterday told me Mama was nowhere in sight, most likely out trolling for grubs and worms to feed those growing chicks. I looked up to see just two chicks standing on the rim of the nest wearing a wistful look as they watched the world go by.

Suddenly, your roving reporter had many questions about this robin family on Pagel Avenue:

#1 – Where were the other two chicks? Had they fledged already, or worse ... fallen from the nest? (My eyes quickly searched the cement driveway beneath the nest and there was no sign of them – whew!)

#2 – Were these remaining chicks waiting for Mama to return with breakfast, or, were they about to take their first flight? (Hmmm - should I hang out a little longer and see what happens?)

I took several pictures and still no Mama robin, so I walked over to Council Point Park, where there were many goslings to ooh and aah over while I walked along the perimeter path.

Of course, on the way back, I had to make a pit stop and check out the nest again. This time an additional chick was standing in the already-crowded nest. They are so tall that their heads appear to touch the roof overhang.

They evidently were wearing their grumpy faces as they awaited Mama’s return with grub, or to give them flying lessons, so they can leave the nest.

Later, when I uploaded these photos, on the computer screen I saw a close-up of the image the camera collected, but my eyes did not see, i.e., en route to the Park, I took a photo of the back of the chicks and one was still in the nest – there was an eye and beak, so there were three to begin with!

Who knows if the fourth chick was way down in the bottom of the nest and all four chicks were there all along? It seems they’re pretty cramped in this nest and must step on each other just to stretch their legs. Maybe Mama wants them to stay warm and dry up there, away from the elements.

Hope you enjoyed the pics of the chicks. Hopefully tomorrow, weather permitting, I’ll check them out again.

You can catch up on my blog posts before I started blogging at Patch in August 2013 by going here: http://lindaschaubblog.net/