Another robin ...

Maybe it's not the cardinal but the robin that should be Ohio's bird. There are so many of them. And here at Pinehaven, I can attest to the addition of one more to our state's total. This little fellow might have not have made it through the afternoon but for his parent's loud calls as I passed nearby with my mower. Each time I'd pass, the parents would swoop down until I could not help but pay attention. I stopped, looked around, and saw the tiny bird in the grass, mouth wide open, watching me with the puttering engine and mama pass close overhead.


While this small bird didn't yet have the idea of flight, he would occasionally bound across the grass to get away from me. And that was a good thing, though not good enough. I walked into the garage, got a broom and thought to hasten him along to safer ground. But he'd have none of that. When I came nearby with the broom, he'd crouch down closer to the ground and refuse to move at all. I found that my camera was the best prod of all. Looking up and seeing the lens pressed close, he'd let out a shriek and dart away. Though this makes photography difficult, it presented exactly the result I was looking for.
We finished the mowing with the baby robin safely near the house, on a section of lawn already mowed. And the frightened parents, realizing the baby was relatively safe, backed away at last.