Ever feel as though you’re being watched?
Well, do you??
I can’t even set foot in the garden without Robyn the robin appearing, demanding food (aka demanding I do the weeding, so that she can follow me along the flowerbed, gathering grubs and beetles, and telling me about everything she thinks is wrong with the world). If I don’t do what she wants, she flies alarmingly close to my head at a gazillion miles per hour to get my attention. I’ve been trying to placate her with mealworms because sometimes I’m just in the garden to hang the washing on the line (or even to knit) rather than to provide an endless supply of food for grumpy birds. Even the twinnage have grown used to her antics.
She seems to like the mealworms, and I reckon I’m >this< close to persuading to her to eat from my hand.
Sometimes she comes and stares at me through the window when I’m indoors. She’s always there. I even did a double-take at work when I noticed a robin sitting outside my window. No, I had to tell myself firmly, you are miles from home and that cannot possibly be Robyn. Just stop this nonsense.
And man, is she noisy?! She may not (yet) come and sit on my hand, but she’s quite happy to scream at me from a safe distance about my inadequacies. (I have a lot of inadequacies apparently, so this takes a while.)
I can’t believe it’s got to the point where I’m being bossed about by someone four inches tall. I know she’s got children and sure, it’s tough being a parent, but is it too much to ask to be able to sit knitting in my own garden once in a while without her zooming past my head?
This post was going to be about all sorts of other things too, but Robyn has taken over. I think we know who’s in charge around here.
Awwwww. I love them. Bossy Robins are so cute. I’ve got 4 ponds so lots of bathing small birds.ocasionally brooding in my garden trees and shrubs, not too close in reach for Lion the Wild cat. I even baby sit when Blackbird is stripping the garden of snails for his fluffy child. It’s harsh here lately for animals. Too much insecticides and stone gardens. Perhaps your Robin can’t find enough food for her babies too. Absolutely no butterflies at all meaning no caterpillars for baby birds. I so hope people wake up to create a mini paradise in their garden.
Yes, it’s a hard time for wildlife in general. All that concrete and manicured lawns weed-killed to within an inch of their lives. 🙁
I’m convinced that digging a pond is the best thing you can do for garden wildlife. Definitely envy you having four!
And your blackbird babysitting sounds adorable! I love how demanding creatures can become once they figure out that you’re not going to eat them!
Absolutely charming, perhaps Robyn would take to a window feeder so the twinnage can get up close and personal too. Our blackbird (Whitey) likes it or so he says!
Also might Robyn enjoy having her likeness captured in yarn, I would love to see that……..please.
Many thanks
Jenny
Oh, you shouldn’t plant ideas like that in my head (re knitted robins)!!!
Does the bird feeder stay stuck to the window ok? I had wondered about getting one – it might be a solution to feeding the birds without encouraging our rat problem…
Yes, it stays on fine, it takes some unsticking to wash it! We didn’t buy the cheapest out there and I actually cleaned the window before we put it up ( there’s more interesting things to do than clean windows).
Interesting. Thank you. I think I’ll try. Probably ought to give the window a clean first…
Have the parakeets invaded your area yet? There are lots of them here in London. I was in the garden of Keats’ House a few weeks ago and there, where he heard the nightingale that inspired his ode, was a pair of parakeets squawking on a branch – I don’t think he would have written an ode to them. One landed on my balcony yesterday. I hope they won’t start nesting too close to my flat. The songbirds are bullied enough already by the crows and magpies.
Oh wow! No, no parakeets here. I think they’re only in London? They must be beautiful close-up: I’ve only ever seen them zoom past at a distance.
Yes, they are rather lovely to look at, but they do make a hideous noise, and they tend to crowd out the native birds.
Ah, maybe I’ll be careful what I wish for.
We have parakeets in Newcastle – apparently thought to be the most northerly breeding population anywhere in the world x
No way! I hadn’t realized they had colonised anywhere outside London.
Robyn sounds like the robin we had in our garden a few years ago who developed a serious mealworm addiction and eventually became daring enough to take them from an outstretched hand. He was so insistent that he used to dive-bomb us the minute we stepped out of the house and a couple of times he flew inside the hall before we could get out. It was hilarious to see him perching on the washing-line, desperately trying to balance whilst haranguing us with loud song!
Oh, that’s adorable! (With the possible exception of the dive-bommbing…)
I do hope Robyn does trusts you enough to take mealworms from your hand. A few years ago I managed to tempt a Robin to take mealworms from a small feeder I held in my hand, he would take a few on each visit returning soon for more. I’ve been able to persuade a male blackbird to take large raisins from a bird table whilst I stood there, he used to wait for me early morning and late afternoon when I returned from work. Happy days????
My first thought was-Hmm..I think that is a finch. Then I looked up Robins and the American robin is different looking. Here is a pic of the only robin I’ve seen here in Oregon: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_robin
I remember when the Mary Poppins film came out back in the 60’s there was such a ho-ha because the robin (stuffed) was an American robin and not a British one. I hasten to add I was quite young, so perhaps I only remember that bit from much later ????
Loved this post. Our robins did not return this year. They had four babies in the woodpile last year and it was lovely watching them grow. They are such bossy wee things. Very distressingly I have found 3 young tits, dead, in the garden this week. We suspect it was our kitty. I know cats come with risks and side effects and we thought we were prepared. We bought him a mahoosive bell. You can hear him from miles away, but now we are going to add to that and he is going to sound like a belly dancer from now on.
We work so hard to be insect and wildlife friendly in this garden, and I feel as though we have failed those little birds. Glad yours is safe and well.
OMG! LOL Love it. Reminds me of a hummingbird in my sister’s garden that runs out any other birds from entering her backyard. It’s hilarious.
What a delightful post and pix. Thankyou for those. Made my day and I am fwding link to my cousin who will also love it.
She is doing a great job of training you! Go Robyn! and have a fun summer!
WOW! I am so surprised by this because I thought robins were the same world-wide. I’m in Canada, and our robins are HUGE in comparison. (10 to 12 inches from crown to tail tip!) They are super friendly, won’t even get out of our way on a sidewalk. They have blue eggs, and the most lovely song, that sounds like “cheerily-cheer up”! They can live up to 14 years, and when we have a robin’s nest, we often know the kids and grandkids!
I tried to include a photo for you, but it’s not working…
Try at this link… http://www.fanpop.com/clubs/birds/images/36100240/title/male-american-robin-on-tree-branch-photo
Many of us over here remain resentful that the robin that Mary Poppins fed in the film was an American robin rather than a European one. I also find it strange when I hear a British person saying something is ‘bluer than robins’ eggs’ since our robins lay eggs of a dirty brown. I think the expression was first heard over here in Joan Baez’s song ‘Diamonds and Rust’ when she’s talking about Bob Dylan’s eyes. Lovely though our robins are, I don’t think anybody would want eyes the colour of their eggs!
Love your post! How fun to have a bossy demanding bird. She sure knows how to get you to do what she needs! They are really smart.
Delightful post!!
Well yes, someone’s in charge and it’s not you. I’m smiling nonetheless at your obvious love for this charming bird. Robyn is full of character, and so clever to sort out who’s behind the window to take care of her needs. She’ll be off before your know it and you’ll miss her. Does she get her own scraps of yarn for future housing projects?