Wednesday, August 3, 2011
New to the world
You've seen this old maple tree often. It is about 150 years old. In 1998 it endured a 5-minute long tornado-like wind which tore off a big limb. We thought we'd have to cut it down, but it came back the next year and has thrived ever since. This morning I saw an odd flying movement from the fencepost just across the road over to the tree. We went out and found a newly-fledged robin just kind of sitting there, wondering at this new world.
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So glad that you didn't cut this tree down! Life really does try very hard...
ReplyDeleteI love your photo of the baby robin. The story goes that when this country was first settled that these birds were called robins since the coloring was so similar to the English robin... but they are two very different birds. I love both robins, the American one and the English one!
In the book, The Secret Garden, Tasha Tudor drew the English robin perfectly. Please don't be confused by the movie, Mary Poppins. The stuffed robin with Julie Andrews is the American one!
Don't you just hate to cut down an old tree. I am glad you didn't. I would give it a big hug if I was near. Sweet little robin. Your green beans look good too.
ReplyDeleteOh, the preciousness of a bird's eye view of new life and discovery. What a magnificent tree. Sometimes they heal and go on to thrive many more years, don't they?
ReplyDeleteI first learned of the English robin in a Miss Read book! Thanks for all this info!
ReplyDeleteLisa, it was killing us to think of doing it. We did lose one almost as big that was just a little ways away from it. The beans are yellow. :<)
Penny, the part that broke off held the tire swing from our kids' childhood that they still talk about. We've not trusted any of the other branches since the wind, fearing they had been too weakened to hold a swing. What was great about the swing is the tire laid flat instead of on its side. Two or three people could ride at once and go oh, so high. Tom and I loved it, too.
Don't you just love baby birds?
ReplyDeleteAre the baby robin's parents around?
ReplyDeleteWhen in 2008 the company I used to work for had a huge new warehouse built next to the old building, shrubs and trees had to be cut down on that piece of land. In one of the birch trees, there was a magpie nest high up, with a whole family in it. Because magpies are protected in Germany, the workmen had to leave the birch tree and work around it until the nesting season was over and all the young magpies had left the nest.
I was glad they stuck to that rule and did not disturb the birds more than they already had to with their noisy machinery.
Awww. Sweet little robin. And I love that huge tree. I'm glad you didn't have to cut it down. I can just picture the tire swing with your kiddos swinging happily on a summer day. :)
ReplyDeleteOhhh look at the little cutie. I love big o;d trees so I'm happy this one is still thriving.
ReplyDeletePamela, I do!
ReplyDeleteLibrarian, yes. That's a wonderful story. Around here we don't cut down trees or mow the fields until the nesting season is all over.
Les, it was a great swing and is sorely missed. I keep thinking we'll put one up on some other tree but it hasn't happened yet.
Diane, we were so lucky to get that picture!
I always make Dave wait to brush hog the fields until the bobolinks have gone away with their offspring. Love the flash of yellow in and out of the hay and their call. Your tree is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteBarbara, Oh, Bobolinks! Our neighbor used to have them but I haven't seen or heard one in years. Lucky you! And good for Dave.
ReplyDeleteSo many thought whirling around in my mind from this post and the comments! I'm so glad your tree survived! My next door neighbors who have lived here for more than ten years were told to take down a very big Siberian Elm near their house because it was too old and dangerous. They decided to ignore that advice and the tree is still wonderful and shades their home in the heat of summer.
ReplyDeleteMy mother loved Bobolinks which were around our home, but I (who am 66 yrs old) can barely remember having seen them in my own childhood because they were gone. Too much building.
I am amused to hear that magpies are protected in Germany. Can they possibly be endangered?
May the little robin survive and enjoy the beauty of life!
This is a beautiful glimpse of your life and of the way you think, Nan.
ReplyDeleteI was tidying up my blog this morning. My list of favorite blogs had grown long and unwieldy, so I decided to split it up by subject matter. Yours gave me pause--should it go under "Visiting Other Places?" "Country Life?" Because you cover such a wide variety of subjects (as Gladys always did), I made a new subject heading: "Thoughts About Life."
I always come away from a visit here with a smile.
Nan, how cute! I have alot of really young cardinals that come to my feeder and they look so funny with their large heads and smaller bodies. Their coloring is off right at the moment too. I love that tree!
ReplyDeleteWe've lost two trees in the last year in Illinois and it was very painful. I'm glad your maple tree survived. I think the little robin symbolizes a rebirth.
ReplyDeleteA wonderfully gentle and lovely post, Nan. Perfect to view on a summer day. :)
ReplyDeleteSuch a sweet post! He does look a little like the world is bewildering him (but who doesn't have that look these days ;>)....
ReplyDeleteThe contrast between the lovely stately old tree and the new inhabitant is wonderful -- hopeful.
And robins have such lovely voices, too.
ReplyDeleteBy the by,just finished rereading Miss Read's "Battles at Thrush Green." Next I'll be rereading "Return to Thrush Green."
this is a great post and a wonderful picture of the robin. I am a city girl, so I really enjoy your posts about nature. We have birds that nest every year in the cable box attached to our building. It is incredible how strong the force of life is.
ReplyDeleteKristi, I loved all your thoughts. I must look up bobolinks and see what their habitat is. When we first moved here there were whip-poor-wills but they disappeared a couple years later. Apparently this is a mystery all over. People aren't sure why they are less common. I so loved their song.
ReplyDeleteClair, 'thoughts about life' sounds so grand! I'll have to live up to it. :<)
Sherri, I dearly love cardinals but we are too cold here for them. It's always such a treat to go somewhere and see that flash of red. Lucky you!
Kay, that's very nice. I love it.
Thank you, Yvette. Tom was lucky to get the picture.
A lovely thought, Sallie.
Lgraves, she is so wonderful, isn't she. I'm looking forward to Winter in TG when the winter comes. And I have one for the Christmas season - a lovely little collection called A Country Christmas.
Alex, we were in a big town the other day and there were those dear little cheery birds we've always called 'city sparrows' though I really don't know what they are.