Ok, this thing is really getting out of hand. We have abandoned our normal "let Eko out the back door and down the steps to go to the bathroom" route for other means of egress. But last night after work I went outside to enjoy some time on our deck while talking on the phone. As soon as our patio door opened, the OVER protective mother robin flew out from under our deck and came around for her first diving mission at me and Eko. I quickly stopped, dropped, and rolled right back into the house. Ok, so I stopped and ducked. But I did go back into the house to grab my weapon of choice...The Racket.
I went back outside so enjoy the evening and to stand my ground. Because, after all, this is MY deck!
There she sat. About 10 yards away perched in the pine tree watching my every move. There I paced (I kind of like to walk around while talking on the phone. I'm not sure if it helps keep me entertained or what...) on the deck watching her every move. We were at a stalemate.
After a few minutes my phone conversation ended and I headed indoors to tell Eme how crazy this bird is when the robin rage continued.
Just as I opened the screen door the robin left her post and came whisteling by my head flapping her wings and kicking up all sorts of dust in her wake of terror. Ok, no dust...but it was frightful nonetheless!
I quickly shut the door with me inside and realized I left poor Eko outside to fend for himself. Even though he's about 2-1/2 feet tall and in no way could reach her unborn eggs she wouldn't relent. She flapped and hovered for what seemed like an eternity (about 3 seconds) and then retreated to her perch as I opened the door and started swinging like John McEnroe!
I grabbed Eko and we safely made it indoors.
A few hours went by, we all got ready for bed, and then went to bed. That's when the real nightmare began!
I had a nightmare about this crazy robin! I was on the grass and she was perched up on the deck staring me down like Clint Eastwood in one of the Spaghetti Western films. I started to run to safety when she came at me. Thankfully I had The Racket and I started swinging like my life depended on it! After a few minutes of her flying around my head I finally gave her a whack and she flew off. I was thrilled at my triumph! I even snagged one of her feathers in the strings of my weapon. This was going to be perfect! I was just about to head inside so I could take a picture of it for the blog! (remember this is just a dream)
Then HE came. That's right. The father, who has been nonexistent to this point, showed up to protect his wife and about to be hatched children. There he sat. Watching with those black beady eyes. Lowering his head into the attack position. My heart sank. I raised my weapon and readied to defend myself. He kept lowering his head, ready to attack. I stood my ground waiting. He stayed on the railing waiting for the right moment to unleash his fury. It was a draw.
Then I woke up! It was over! What a relief!
So is it so wrong of me to have urges of pushing this nest of eggs off the deck beams? Or possibly move the nest further away? Or to have a strong desire to whack mommy robin with The Racket to teach her a lesson? According to Wikipedia "only 25% of young robins survive the first year." And the "average lifespan is about 2 years." 2 YEARS! It's probably because they spend so much time dive bombing and not enough time resting, eating and relaxing!
These eggs need to hatch. And the mother needs to move on. But in the mean time, we are stuck going out every other door in our house to let Eko out other than the patio door. He is getting confused as he dribbled a little bit inside for the first time in a month. This madness must stop!
No comments:
Post a Comment