A prisoner in our own home...

When we came back from vacation a few weeks ago, nature had left us a little homecoming gift...a robin's nest underneath of our deck. Since then, the eggs have hatched and now there's a new baby robin...I think there were 2 to start, but only 1 these days :-( Anyway, baby is doing well, and starting to poke his head out of the nest, but allow me to enlighten you about life with a momma/baby robin under your deck:

• We're not allowed grill...not even beef or pork. Momma Robin 'yells' at Ethan if he goes out there. That's why Evan named her Jessica :-)

• Don't even think about going out the back door if she's on the nest. And if she's not there, we carry things across the patio so as to not disturb the baby bird.

• The baby bird is LOUD when he's hungry. Really loud.

• The grass has not been cut in about a month because of the mini-hostage situation. I'm sure it's breaking Ethan's heart that he hasn't been able to do this :-)

I've tried many many many times to get a picture of our new resident, but he's not real excited about posing for the camera. Could be the fact that I almost busted my head open in the process of taking a picture the other day (note to self: don't stand on the swiveling barstool on your tiptoes with the camera way over your head next to a sharp corner and in front of a glass door). Scared the crap out of both of us :-) Anyway, here's what I got...

Cole is not amused by our newest family addition...but he is enjoying the jungle of a backyard!And, to answer the questions I keep getting, yes, this is kind of late for baby robins to be hatching. I have no idea if it will be big enough to fly south for the winter. If not, we'll be requesting donations for a patio heater to keep the little guy warm until next spring!

09/14 update - the nest is empty! Hopefully the little guy is doing well out on his own!