Right Timing

We've been watching a Robin's nest out our front window for a few weeks now. We somehow missed the construction of the nest but we were there to see the fledglings begging for food and the two parent birds tag-teaming as they rotated bringing worms to the chicks.


Now the progeny are getting bigger. One at a time each of the three baby birds perch on top of the nest and practice spreading their never-used-before wings as they watch the devoted process of the parents leaving and returning to the nest over and over to bring them food.


I can sense the anticipation of the one courageous youngster who claims the top-of-the-nest position. As the parents fly away she follows the adult bird's movements with her eyes. Her body even attempts to mimic the behavior but at the very last moment she holds herself back and stays safely ensconced in the nest for a little while longer. She is learning what needs to be done but is not quite ready to do it.


And that need to wait is natural and understandable. The bird trusts herself and her instincts and she understands that she will feel and know when her right time to take action has come. And it is at that right time that she will spread her wings, follow her parents away from the nest and fly...