this one may be a lil more difficult then my last pic...sorry for the low quality, but it is a cropped image of the photo...it's just such an adorible original that I had to share...good luck everyone

some kind of flower?

Baby Robin or other bird!

Cache Slinger wrote:Baby Robin or other bird!

exactly right cache... it is a baby robin, less then 3 days old (don't remember exactly) it still hadn't opened it's eyes

DW Photo wrote:

Cache Slinger wrote:Baby Robin or other bird!

exactly right cache... it is a baby robin, less then 3 days old (don't remember exactly) it still hadn't opened it's eyes

Really nice photo!
I was given a nest with four eggs in it while serving with The Royal Canadian Regiment in Germany in the late 80's early 90's. Everyone was doing spring maintenance on the big trucks, and they found a nest with four eggs under the engine hood of one truck. Not sure why me, but I took them home and placed the nest on my book shelf with a 25 watt lightbulb and went to the pet store to find out what I should do next.
They gave me some live meal worms (pretty grouse at first), and said I should use tweezers to kill a worm just before feeding.
All 4eggs hatched within a couple days, and they didn't look this cute at first. I could see through their shin, which darkened up pretty fast, and within a few days I watched furry like feathers starting to grow.
Two of the robins died the first day, but the other two responded to my blocking the light with my hand as I brought the tweezers to their beaks.
Once I tapped their beaks with the tweezers, their heads pointed straight up and beaks opened wide like n your photo. They made very loe but high pitched squeezing sounds until I pushed a freshly killed meal worm down into the back of their throats, then they somehow used their pointed tongues to pull the food in, sort of convulsing as the did so. Once the worm was gone, the beaks opened again, they stretched their necks in the direction to the sky, and when they felt the tweezers with food again, it's like they actually grew taller, forcing their open mouths up the length of the tweezers, and the food into the back of their throats.
Wow! It's like I had to feed these birds almost every 10 to 20 minutes (whenever the squeaking started).
After a. Few days their eyes opened, and I guess I was now their dad. So, with the feeding schedule, I had to take these birds to work with me, but by then they had a healthy growth of fluffy feathers. Got lots of attention with a nest of birds on my dashboard, then again sitting under my desk lamp at work.
After a few weeks, these fellows had normal looking feathers and were able to sit up in the nest and turn around.
Now I had to teach them how to fly. This took a while, as I had no experience, and wasn't about to demonstrate it myself. Well actually I did flap my arms a few times, but they just looked at me and kept their wings snugly tucked to their sides.
Strong enough to grasp onto my finger, I took them one at a time, covered the floor with pillows and blankets, and raised my finger and arm horizontally up. Each wold crouch low for balance I guess and tighten their grasp on my finger. Then I started lowering my arm, speeding up as I did so, and the wings would open and flap, for balance again I guess.
After a few days attempting this, I started bringing my arm down faster, and finally one jumped off during the downward motion, and thundered into the couch, a few feet away. The other one watched, looking back and forth between me and the first bird.
At last, both birds were making the downward diagonal flight several times a day from my finger.
One morning I got up to find one bird on the window sill and the other on the next shelf up. I guess they got we're now strong enough to do the flighing thing on their own.
This prompted me to buy my first set of lace curtains, as I didn't need anyone breaking their necks hitting a window. The pillows and blankets also were moved to below the windows to soften the blow should a they go for the windows and bounce off.
So, this prompted me to also buy new bedding for myself too.
I realized that I couldn't keep these as pets, though I was tempted, but couldn't just put them outside.
What happened next just floored me with mixed emotions of happiness and I guess a bit of fear.
Now, I didn't know these were robins at first, but they kind of looked like them, you know, wing, eyes, beaks, all that stuff.
One day. The back yard filled with birds, a little darker than my birds, but with similar markings. I opened the screen door and brought them out on my finger and shoulder and sat down. One stayed on my shoulder, but the other flew down to the other birds, which didn't seem to pay much attention to any of us. The one that went down remained when the other birds flew away aboutnten minutes later. And we all went back inside.
There were flocks of these birds going from yard to yard, looking for bugs I think, and later that day they came back. This time both birds joined the crowd, and when they departed, my birds left with them.
I was thrilled, sad and a bit nervous wondering if they'd be okay.
I kept going outside every time birds landed in the yard, and a few days later, while sitting outside, trying to identify my little friends, on of them flew up and landed on the guard rail beside me. Wow! I held my finger out, but no response, although the bird didn't't fly away until all the birds took off.
I think that was the last time I saw them, but that is why I guessed "Robin" so quickly. I remembered that open "feed me!" beak. LOL

wow that is quite the story...one to be proud..I din't get quite that involved, but I did spend hours every day, when I could, documenting the life of a robin, from the building of the nest, laying of eggs, the hatching, feeding, clean up duty, and of course the day they left the nest...I was freaking out of town on an assignment for the newspaper I work for ... figures

I knew u had to have some experience with the birds somehow to know what it was... to me it looks like a black hole of hell with teeth.. LOL Was hard to get that photo, as they were on a security light on our garage, and ther was only 2 ft or so between nest and roof, so my focus was just at the minimum if i held it above the nest to the bottom of the roof..any lower or i moved and it was blurry or less sharp.

Wish I had thought to photograph my ordeal, but I hadn't really counted on the eggs actually hatching. LOL, I got lot's of strays and orphans after that. Mostly birds, but once a hedgehog while serving in Cyprus.

Unfortunately I'm ramping up for a 2 week trip starting tomorrow morning, and I don't know i I'll have internet access while away. Maybe you could submit another image?

- Brian
aka: Cache Slinger

robvdn wrote:some kind of flower?

it was not a flower of any kind...but since u were the only other guesser before it was correctly guessed you have the privledge of posting a photo, as cache will be without internet for awhile...I don't think it would be fair for me to post two in a row... so please .... knock urself out and post a great pic

Cache Slinger wrote:Wish I had thought to photograph my ordeal, but I hadn't really counted on the eggs actually hatching. LOL, I got lot's of strays and orphans after that. Mostly birds, but once a hedgehog while serving in Cyprus.

Unfortunately I'm ramping up for a 2 week trip starting tomorrow morning, and I don't know i I'll have internet access while away. Maybe you could submit another image?

- Brian
aka: Cache Slinger

Sounds like you are truely an animal lover...and that is a great thing... as for submitting another photo I think I will let Rob do the honors since he was the only other guesser before u correctly guessed. Just wouldn't be right to put two up in a row.

thats a great story cache it reminds me of the many strays we brought home to our mom when we (me n my bro) where kids, from crows to robins to hedgehogs and what more, (I really tried but never found a stray pony or horse and i really wanted one!!) the one I remembered best is the crow who stayed with us for a long time and who we raised till he flew away with other birds like in your story.. (just not a big flock lol) we didnt see him till the next season a crow came to our home and he was with another crow, a female and he came real close, they just sat there n stay a while before he flew off again to be never be seen again. I like to believe he came to say goodbye and show us his wife so we knew he had his own family to take care off.. I know this all might just be a lil too much to rly be true but heh thats what i like to believe