We have a family of robins nesting in our maple tree in the backyard. It is the first year we have had them. Yesterday when we came back from the baseball game, I let Chloe out the back and she was bounding across the yard, fortunately she did not spot the fledgling sitting on the ground under the tree. We figured we would let nature take its course and left it there undisturbed. We kept the dog out of the back yard for the rest of the day. Here is the mother sitting in the nest.

We think there are still two more fledglings in the nest.

This morning Susan went out and said the bird was still sitting there, later when I took Chloe out it was gone, no where to be seen. Eventually Chloe tracked it down, it was in the back corner garden, the dog was barking at it and the parents were circling overhead. The fledgling made a break for it, the wrong way, eventually it made it over to the other side of the deck towards the front of the house. We thought okay, we can close the side gate and Chloe won’t be able to get it, I threw some evergreen branches in to give it cover. As Chloe and I are sitting at the gate, I could hear it chirping and the parents were keeping a close eye on it. Next thing I know it is hopping past us, again the dog was oblivious to this thing about two feet away. I put up a firewood log barrier to try and lead it back the way it came, but it was just sitting there. Eventually we had to go out. Here is the fledgling that has been all over the backyard.

While I was trying to steer it towards the back garden again, the parents were squawking away, I think they called in their buddies as sparrows were flying around and then we saw this guy on the neighbours back fence. It is a Northern Flicker (Colaptes auratus), a medium sized member of the woodpecker family.

One of the watchful parents. When we came back the fledgling was gone and there was no sign of it anywhere. Hopefully it made its way back to the cover of the back garden or actually figured out how to get air borne.