Welcome to Applying Nature Connection to Your Life and Career – Introduce yourself!

[David Fontaine]

Hi All! I just wanted to hop on the general forum here to share a really cool experience I had this week! I was going about my morning yesterday which included the ever exciting “getting the recycling bin from the street side” where I found a small robin perched on a ledge just inside the open bin. It just looked at me as I stood there dumbfounded that it didn’t fly away. My normal reaction to this was that it must be injured or sick but it looked really healthy and I didn’t see any ruffled or loose feathers. I slowly tipped the bin on it’s side so I could try to get him to move and observe whether he was injured or not. He hopped out onto the ground and then flew quite a ways off, appearing to be fine. Later on in the morning I was trimming back a small tree on the side of the driveway (and when I say “small tree” I mean it stands about 4 feet high) very near to where the bin was earlier, when suddenly the same bird came fluttering into the tree I was working on and landed on a limb right near my head. Again, dumbfounded, I stood there not really knowing what was going on. He just sat perfectly still and looked right at me. I went and got a little bowl of water and set it on the ground below the tree and watched him a little more as I started to research this kind of behavior from birds on my phone. I came across an incredibly helpful article from a New York state audubon society that had a lot of very detailed ways to troubleshoot this scenario. After going through them, nothing seemed to be wrong with this little guy. Reading further, they talked about how this kind of behavior can often be misinterpreted by humans and leads people to intervene and try to help. I have to be honest and say that I was very close to taking him somewhere. The behavior I was seeing was actually a fledgling who was still early on in his adventures away from the nest and flying. As soon as I read that I started seeing all the signs that he was actually ok. He and his mom were calling to each other, he was taking cover in low brush for safety, he was fluttering his wings and practicing balance. I spent a good part of the day observing this awesome moment of seeing a young bird gain its independence and even saw the mom come by a few times to feed him a worm. While pondering on this experience last night, that was quite literally put right in my face to see, I realized this event had a lot to show me. I recently moved in with my girlfriend who has an 8 yr old daughter. We’ve been struggling with bedtime habits and routines with her and we’ve been completely frustrated. I think this was nature’s way of showing me that young will find their way but they still need a little patience and understanding from the parents as they navigate new environments. It was a valuable lesson and one that has made us look at this from a different angle!