Common Birds XIX - American Robin II
Wednesday, April 19
The air is cool for April, the sun is high, and I am by the stream. A Canada goose sits in her eggs while the male grazes a little further upstream. The heron stands on a branch which hangs low over the waters of the near shore. I’ve seen him for several days now. He preens himself, bending back his sinuous neck so he can run his long beak through the blue-gray feathers of his breast. Yesterday, an enormous hawk was just hanging out at the stream. I walked up, ten feet away, and the hawk glanced at me causally and then looked back over the stream. The Canada goose never left her nest, laying her neck against her back, clearly unconcerned. I think it was a red-tail but it was discombobulating to see it so close and nonchalant. Today, I think I catch some movement on the far shore, so I decide to take the secret path down to the fishing spot and investigate. I get my hopes up that it’s the long lost second heron, and I’ve finally found their nest.
I did see some movement. It was the two wood ducks who are nesting around here. They can’t abide me being so close and rush off with flapping wings and reedy quacks, which flushes the great blue heron. As I watch him slowly rise and ponderously fly off over the trees, I flush hot. A huge hawk made no impact, but today I am a terror. I am a terror because I had to get a closer look and was not content to look from the road. I hurry back to the parking lot, resolving to exile myself from the secret trail. My friends, the heron and wood ducks, will be back, and I will respect their space.
There’s grass between the stream and the parking lot. Today, it is sown with robins, filling the small field like wildflowers, with humble and ever present beauty. I watch them for a moment, darting and listening through the earth. Saturday, Amelia and I were here for family day, and I spotted a robin building a nest in the crook of one of our parking lot trees. I’ve been keeping an eye on it ever since. This morning, the robin is on her nest, sitting perfectly still, hoping I don’t see her. Like the robin and Canada goose, now is a time of waiting for Amelia and me. Last May, during our first pregnancy, I found a red-eyed vireo sitting on her nest. The nest looked like a huge external womb. I wished I could be like the male red-eyed vireo and now I wish I could be like the make robin and build something so useful and intimate for my wife and child. But I will have to be content with the more removed and probably more frustrating role of building Ikea furniture. Now, the nests and furniture are all together, the moms are home, the dads are out getting food, and we wait for our babies.
