My Indiana Home / Flower Pot Robin

But what I wanted to write about was this little fledgling robin I saw hiding so quietly in my pink petunia pot in my shade garden late Sunday evening before Kitty came out for the night. Of course I had to take pictures of this little bird – and then I just had to see if he could fly. Part of me wanted to leave him be but part of me thought he wasn't in a very safe place and I wanted to see how high he could get himself off the ground. As it turned out – this baby could barely get off the ground (unlike the little fledgling I caught on camera earlier this summer - who must have been a toddler.) This baby robin settled in our forsythia bush for the night, pretty cleverly hiding himself behind a leaf, while I fretted about what to do. He was only a couple of feet off the ground - I was afraid the cat would find him. So I went online on my daughter's computer to find out what I could about the care and feeding of fledgling robins. I read that they often left the nest before they can fly and so the parents continue caring for them on the ground and bringing them food for several weeks - every hour on the hour or so. I knew I couldn't do that schedule. And the closest wildlife rehab place was 20 miles away. And we were pretty broke. So I finally decided I would put the robin in a box in the barn overnight while Kitty was out and then put the robin back outside in the morning when Kitty came in so the parents could take care of him. By that time it was very dark. I retrieved a box from the garage and a flashlight from the porch, and found the baby still perched in the forsythia bush. He was sleeping soundly, his little sides moving in and out regularly. It was as easy as picking apples. I just cupped my hands around him and lifted him out of the bush. He was warm and relaxed but I had to tug gently to get his little feet loose from the branch. Of course then he woke up and he wasn’t too happy. Poor little guy. What a rude awakening. Anyway, I put him in the box which I had outfitted with a soft diaper, some wood shavings, and a chirping cricket and a roly poly that I had caught and left him in the pole barn for the night. When Kitty came in the next morning, I let the baby robin loose. There were a couple of adult robins around who seemed pretty interested when they heard him chirping. So then when I got home last night after the bachelorette party and retrieving my dead computer from Best Buy, I looked all over the yard but didn’t see him anywhere. So I sure hope he made it – I hope he simply decided he’d find a better place to bed down where he couldn't just be plucked off a branch like a piece of fruit!