First, we had a spy in the house. Now, we have a killer among us. I looked out the upstairs window at Sandy’s (Garry’s mom’s) house this morning to find Piper chewing on something in the backyard. Her backyard is a treeless landscape, hence Piper wasn’t chewing on a stick. However, it wasn’t clear what he had found in the yard. It appeared he was stretching and pulling on a piece of rope. Whatever it was, it was very pliable and Piper was enjoying it very much. Garry and I watched him for a couple minutes. With shock, followed by horror, we saw the purported piece of rope flutter, then fly a foot from Piper and realized he was chewing on a baby robin – one of the same three baby robins Sandy had mentioned to us the evening before.
We found two juvenile robins in the yard, one dead, the other alive, but clearly not for long. They looked old enough to have fledged in a few days. I wanted to bury the birds and we chose to bury them in their nest behind Sandy’s fence. Unfortunately, the second baby bird took a long while to die, but I couldn’t bear to kill it myself, and I cried as I dug the grave. I felt silly for crying, but I was glad to feel some compassion for these birds and I hope I can share this compassion for other living things with my child.
The third baby robin? Either it didn’t exist (i.e. there were only two) or the third is in Piper’s tummy. I don’t fault Piper. The nest was built under a picnic table close to the ground (the most stable wood structure in aforementioned treeless yard) right at nose height and what tasty morsels they must have been.
G: I hope Piper hasn’t developed a taste for babies.
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