A few days later, I got up as usual, and opened my back door to let in some fresh air. When I opened the door and looked outside, I was surprised to see a small bird standing right there on my back patio. It looked like a sparrow – but it was not a sparrow. I suddenly realized that it was a small robin! I couldn’t believe my eyes. Why had the little robin come out of the safe nest?
It stood motionless for a few minutes, like a statue. I became more curious and decided to take a picture. Just as I approached, it jumped away with a hop and a hop. This was indeed a young robin.
I hurried back inside to continue to watch through my glass door. A few minutes later, another little robin flew out of the nest and landed in front of my back door. It also stood motionless like the first bird, giving me the opportunity to take a picture.
Next I saw the Father bird fly up with an insect in it beak. The second little bird opened its mouth widely. The big bird quickly fed the bug into the little bird's mouth, and immediately flew away. This little bird was still standing there, and I suddenly realized that the little bird was so helpless. This was the first time the baby birds had been out of their nest. Flying down from such a high grape rack had exhausted their energy. So they would stand there motionless. They were accumulating energy, and maybe they didn’t know where to go.
At this moment, my neighbour came outside to her backyard. I called out “hello’ and said “see the baby robins are out on my patio”. She was looking but could not see them, so I opened my door to point them out to her, but I did not think that my act would frighten the bird i n front of the door. It jumped and then hopped right into the open garage of my other neighbour. This neighbour’s big dog was lying right there in front of the garage door!
The big dog let out a bark and lunged forward, trying to catch the baby bird in its mouth! My neighbour and I shouted at the dog trying to stop it, but the dog didn't listen to us, and kept barking and scurrying after the fluttering baby. My neighbour was quick thinking and ran to the dog, pulling its leash and saved the bird. Fortunately, that dog was tied by a leash, otherwise the bird would be dead. In these tense and noisy minutes, the big birds in the sky also flew back. They shrieked and screamed, and their cries resounded throughout the sky. And it was soon apparent that it was not just the bird parents, making this noise, but countless big birds whirling and shouting in the air. Afterwards, we discussed, does the robin family have uncles and aunts?
And next, the third little robin also flew down from the nest and it landed in an empty flower pot. It also stood motionless for a long time.
Like its siblings, this third baby was like a small child just learning to walk and is thinking, waiting, and waiting until it has enough confidence before taking the next step.
So now, this particular morning, I had seen three little birds all come out of the nest one after another. But still I saw the mother robin fly back into the nest with a big fat worm in its beak. Could there be another bird still in the nest!?
That evening, my neighbours and I had a discussion in our back yards – “is there another bird in the nest?” “It is easy for birds to fly down from a high nest, but how do they fly back?" asked my neighbour. “Can the bird parents carry them in their beak and fly them back to the nest?" Now the evening was getting dark. What would the birds do? Our countless questions remained unanswered.
Finally we decided to take a look inside the bird’s nest! I climbed up on the step-ladder, and took a photo. Sure enough, we were pleasantly surprised to find a fourth little bird alone in the nest. It looked smaller and more immature than its brothers and sisters. It was probably the latest to come out of the egg shell.
At this time I could see the Mother bird perched on the nearby fence, just staring at us. There were many other robins chirping and crying loudly. This sound made us nervous and we all quickly went back inside. From behind my window I saw the mother fly to the nest at a great speed. After a few more minutes, I saw the father return with a big beetle to feed the last baby.
The big robins continued to return regularly to feed the last little bird. It seemed that the three brothers and sisters had flown away, and were not coming back.
It had been more than a month since I first noticed the straw on my patio which caused me to look up and discover the nest. During this time, not a day had passed without my thinking about the robin family in my grape vines.
I had learned that there were beautiful blue eggs, and I had observed the robin parents take turns staying in the nest to protect them. Every day I went back and forth to my vegetable garden, taking a detour route so as not to disturb the robin family. I would raise up my head and look to the bird's nest many tim es a day, always wondering what they would be doing and what the babies would look like, how many, what colour, and so on…
Then the eggs hatched and the little birds grew stronger and stronger with the constant feedings brought to them by the Mom and Dad. In a blink of an eye, their feathers were full, and their wings were strong, and they were ready to fly – to go out and live their own lives. I couldn't help feeling a little sad. My house guests had stayed for a month, but now they had left – I wondered would they ever come back again?
On the last night I saw a big robin in the nest with the last fledgling. It was a pleasant surprise to see that even though there was just the one baby left in the nest, the parents came back regularly to feed and support it. Then, the last baby bird flew away. And the Mom and Dad were gone too. They never did come back.
Postscript
For one month, there was so much activity, so much noise from the nest, and lots of excitement for birds and people alike. The robin family brought my neighbours and I many topics and concerns to discuss. Now we are all a bit lost. Our topic of conversation has left, and looking up at the empty nest, on my grape vine, I realize that we are all a bit lost.
Every time I pass under the grape trellis, I cannot help myself. I always look up, and even look around – hoping that the surprise will appear again. I ask myself, am I too sentimental?
Note – all pictures by Yu Rong Su from her garden, except the final picture.
Su Yurong graduated from the Yunnan Academy of Arts, and went on to an illustrious career of over 20 years in the theatre. She acted in a great number of dramatic roles which brought her to audiences in theatres across China.
Yurong has also broadcast dozens of radio dramas and dozens of literary works on the Yunnan Radio Station. Su Yurong has won national awards for her work in Yunnan.
She now resides in Toronto, Canada.
Dave Page, Teacher, Writer, Community Literacy Educator
Dave Page has been working as a teacher and community leader for over thirty years. He has a passion for community based literacy work, has written many resources on teaching, and is an award winning story-teller.
Currently, Dave works with families in Toronto where he has worked in Early Literacy programs with Yu Rong Su. Dave first read Yu Rong’s story “A Nest In the Garden” in the summer of 2020, shortly after her back garden robin family had flown away.
“I was so moved by Yu Rong’s story because it is not only her record of the five weeks in which the robin family moved into her garden, but is also a story of the bond that occurred between neighbours who watched this particular family of robins. Yu Rong’s observations, her love of nature, and her wonderful sense of humour make this a story that will be enjoyed by readers all over the world.”
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