Baby Robin

Nick's brother has (or maybe had?) some chickens. One time we went to visit, and he let a couple chickens out so Ben could chase them. He caught one, and thought that was great fun. I think I have some pictures of it - when I get around to posting about the last few (eight) months, you just might see them. Anyway, now anytime he sees a bird, he thinks he needs to chase them. We have a robin's nest in our back yard, so he thinks he needs to chase the birds quite often. The robins are a bit quicker than the chickens, and he never manages to catch them. Until one day...
There was a baby robin that was just learning how to fly. He couldn't get up over the fence and was kinda slow, so it was the perfect opportunity for Ben to practice his bird-catching skills. I don't know if you can see it in this picture, but the little birdie is hopping through the grass, with Ben right on his tail.

I think he kind of expects the birds to be faster than him, so when he caught up to this one, he wasn't sure what to do. Nick caught it for him so he could touch it, and he wasn't sure that was a good idea at the time. But after a little coaxing, he finally touched it. Turns out it was kinda neat.

Then he wanted to hold it. It was pretty fun, until the crazy thing started moving around in his hand. Then, of course, you just drop the bird. The mama and daddy robin were going nuts, flying around our heads while we were playing with the baby. Then I started to feel sorry for the mama - I don't exactly like it when strangers are fondling my baby either. Especially giant aliens. So I took my boys back in the house so they could rescue their baby.

Nick tells me that the neighbor's cat got to it first, but I refuse to believe it. I'm sure he's safely flying high in the sky with his mom and dad.