The Highs and Lows of Spring

What a beautiful May-24 weekend.  Perfect weather, and today felt like the first unofficial day of summer.

Around the yard the dogs enjoy the first of many games of "Hose", and I am hearing the beautiful call of Baltimore Orioles, the persistent and insistent squawk of baby Grackles, and the lecturing Red Squirrel who was cautioning all critters to "back away from the feeders".  

At around 7:00 a.m. this morning I spotted a little head peeking out of the grass.  It was a newly fledged American Robin, beyond cute and being doted on by his parents.  His dad was busy rounding up juicy worms for his little one, and the fledgling was only too happy to gobble them up.

My first glimpse of this sweet bird.

Initially all seemed good with this recently fledged American Robin.

He even took a few hops in the grass.

I spent half an hour taking photos from a distance, and while I noted the fledgling was eating well, my spidey senses were tingling because something seemed off.  When I zoomed in on my photos I noticed that he was doing one of two things in the photos - eating, or sleeping.  His eyes were closed in many of the shots, and I'd never seen a fledgling so sleepy before.  I would have been more concerned had I not seen him eating several juicy worms over the course of an hour.

At 11:00 a.m. I heading out and while walking toward the driveway I spotted the little Robin again, only 8 feet from the original sighting.  He was now sleeping with his head tucked into his back.  My parrots sleep this way but I've never seen a wild bird do this and was getting concerning.  

I approached him, hoping he would hop away.  But he didn't move, and I had to tap him twice before he woke up.  But his parents were still in the area waiting with food and I didn't want to intervene.

Both parents were taking care of this little one, but didn't know what to do with him as he got weaker.

We went out for a couple of hours and when I returned the little one had only moved a few more feet over.  On the advice of a wildlife rehabber I sat back and observed, hoping Dad would resume feeding.  He was still gathering food but seemed perplexed as he approached because the baby was asleep.  Dad didn't know what to do. After an hour with no successful feeding I knew this little one wasn't going to make it so picked him up (also wanting to save him from neighborhood kids who were playing in the area) and got him ready for a trip to Shades of Hope.  I discovered that he was quite dirty underneath, not a good sign.

He seemed to be losing energy by the minute.

Sadly, he passed away before I could get him help.

Amazing how quickly he declined, going from eating robustly in the morning to being gone within a matter of hours.  

It's sad for the parents, who looked for him for some time afterwards and didn't have any other little ones to keep them busy.  I hope they will go on to have a successful second clutch. 

I wanted to share a few photos and my memory of the little bird that mattered, if only for a while. This is definitely the hard part of an otherwise beautiful season.

And I'm grateful for Shades of Hope for offering advice and a place to bring him.  Unfortunately it wasn't meant to be.