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Baby's First Steps

There was an American Robin nest in the small Honey Locust tree in our backyard last June. We enjoyed watching the antics of the fledglings. This one, on his first "flight", left the nest and landed atop the porch light fixture below. He only managed to get one foot on board, and there he sat, too frightened to fly, unable to get that second foot up on the slick surface of the fixture. After what seemed like a long five minutes, he slipped off and tumbled to the ground below. I went to call my wife, and when I returned he was gone.

 

(We did see him and his sibling after that for a couple of weeks in various parts of the yard, along with the mother robin...then, they were gone.)

 

The spotted breast is only seen on immature robins; in adults it's a solid rusty orange color.

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Uploaded on January 20, 2013
Taken on June 2, 2012