The Easter Bunny Robin??

Those who know me well will tell you that I don't like birds.  I am actually fearful of them.  They peck and poop and are unpredictable.  At the Riverbanks Zoo there is an exhibit where you can feed nectar in little cups to these little green birds.  I tried going in once and only lasted about 20 seconds before I ran out.  They were flying all around my head, trying to land on me.  Terrifying.

I also find birds terribly annoying. They wake me up at ungodly hours of the morning with what others describe as their "sweet songs."  I don't find these songs anything but annoying.  Many a morning, I've actually gotten up out of bed, turned off our security alarm, and gone outside to shoo birds away.  Typically, this is accompanied by me yelling, "SHUT UP YOU STUPID BIRD!"

Over the past week and a half, I've been trying to foil a very determined robin from building her nest in the window sill of our master bathroom.  I've literally gone outside several times and actually removed the nest like a crazy lady.  I even went once in the pouring rain.  But she would not be deterred.  I've given up and decided to embrace this bull-headed robin.  Maybe it's because I'm lazy and don't want walk all the way around my house again.

Maybe it's because I think this robin might be a kindred spirit.

No matter how many times I took down her nest, she was undaunted.  Each time, building it a little quicker so that she would beat me to laying an egg.  Because she had to know I am not cruel enough to take down the nest with a baby in it.  And that once she laid that egg, I'd do everything in my power to help her protect it.  She's strong, independent, and a little bit stubborn.  Ok a lot stubborn...yep, she's sounds a lot like me.  And yet, she won...so maybe I can learn a little from Mrs. Robin.

Instead of the Easter Bunny bringing us eggs this week, we have an Easter Robin because she laid her first egg this morning!!  It's bigger than I expected.  I thought it would be the size of one of those Cadbury Mini-Eggs but its about the size of 2-3 of those combined.  It's a beautiful Tiffany's blue and is sitting right smack dab in the center of the nest.

I'm a fan of anything that comes in a small,
Tiffany's blue package.

Mrs. Robin isn't sitting on the nest all day yet because all of her eggs aren't laid yet.  She won't fully incubate the eggs until they are all laid so they all hatch at about the same time (pretty cool, huh?).  I was able to catch a quick pic of her but you'll have to excuse the quality of the picture.  I had to snap it fast and it was through the blinds so I wouldn't scare her off.  Mr. Robin should be sticking by somewhere fairly close, but I haven't seen him yet.

There she is!

I'm looking forward to the next few weeks.  I can't wait to see exactly how many eggs she will lay, how long it will take them to hatch, and what the little baby chicks will look like from hatching until flying the coop.  Hopefully my excitement will last even when I'm woken up by the chirps of baby birds at 5 am (and hopefully I can close the bathroom door to muffle the sound).

I plan on doing a blog post everyday to document the development of Mrs. Robin's little family.  I'll include a little fun fact about robins, too, just to keep it educational.  Maybe I'll just learn stuff about robins.  Maybe Mrs. Robin can actually teach me a thing or two about life.  And maybe, just maybe I'll learn to appreciate another one of God's awesome creations (even if it wakes me at 5 am).

Robin Fun Fact:  Robins will lay anywhere from 3-6 eggs per nest but will only lay one a day.  Can you imagine giving birth every day for six days??  I don't know about you, but I've been through the labor process and that's a lot of work for one day let alone six days in a row!  Go Mrs. Robin...you're a beast!!

XOXO