Robins in the Sprinkler (for Englishman)

by GatoCat 4 Replies latest jw friends

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  GatoCat

  There are quite a number of robins who daily visit my yard. They're here in the morning and still, or again, in the evening. To my surprise, I learned that they just love the sprinklers in my yard. They will stand in the spray, hopping around to get more of it on them, and sometimes will fly into it or fly around in it. It's really a delight to watch. Sorry I don't have a video of it.

  They're often joined by the swallows from the mud nest on my patio, a couple of bluejays, some blackbirds and sparrows, but the robins are the most numerous. A few days back I watched something I have only seen in cartoons and heard about in childrens' books: I saw a robin get hold of a worm and fight to pull him out of the ground. He would brace his feet and lean back, pulling with all his might. Finally he would release, drop the worm, get a fresh grip farther up his body, and start pulling again. This went on, I swear, for a good five minutes. The robin even stopped at one point to run a bluff on another robin who was getting too close. After chasing off the competition, he hurried back to the worm again and started up. I had never seen this for real, only heard about it.

  Pictures of the robins at play in the sprinkler. There were about 15 in the yard at this time, but I couldn't get them all in the pictures.

  COMF, cheating to get in a 3d post in 24 hours

  Edited by - GatoCat on 4 August 2002 22:14:46
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  Incense_and_Peppermints

  aw, how cute. i get baby doves on my lawn... after the sprinklers run, they come and hunt for worms and insects, then they'll just sit there in the wet grass letting the water soak in. it's always the same seven baby doves. they always go everywhere together. sometimes they will try to raid the seed bag on the patio. i put out birdseed in the feeder but these guys actually post two or three sentries on the front of the patio while the other ones poke the bag with their beaks, attempting to dislodge some of the seeds. it's pretty cute to watch; they're like bird gangstas or something.

  one night a couple of weeks ago it rained really hard and the yard flooded. all seven of the baby doves were blown out of the eucalyptus tree and were huddled together in a clump in a middle of the back yard in a huge puddle of water. they were too scared to move. my son and i picked them all up and put them under the pine tree and in the fountain grass. the next day they were back in my flower garden nibbling on the allysium as usual... :)

  oops! just realized this was for the englishman - a thousand pardons. doh!

  Edited by - Incense_and_Peppermints on 5 August 2002 0:5:25
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  Stephanus

  I saw these long legged wading type birds on the paddock I had to cross on my way to catch a train to take a photo of the KH rubble I displayed in the Captions thread (did I mention it was kind of a long story? ):
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  Prisca

  COMF,

  Didn't you have a back yard before, in your old place?
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  Englishman

  Gato cat,

  Thanks for that!

  I'm intrigued with the differing bird species on the 2 sides of the Atlantic. We have robins visit, but they are smaller and rounder: