Hedge World

abberdab — Sat, 24 Sep 2005 20:44:45 +0000

This summer, we had a family of robins make their home in our backyard and I have greatly enjoyed watching the parent birds and their fledglings. An immense hedgerow — once 15-18 feet tall, all around — separates our home from the street and our next door neighbors on either side and from our new neighbors along the back. Hedgerows are great for housing urban wildlife and so our backyard is quite popular with critters. The trunks of the laurels which form the hedge are on our new neighbors’ property, so they were within their right to top it to about 10 feet, an act that has changed the look of our backyard significantly – not entirely a bad or good thing. After the landscapers had come and gone, Mr. Slakethirst and I found what seems to a robin’s nest on our back porch. The landscapers must have revealed it during their trimming. I hope the robins no longer needed it! I’m pretty sure they don’t – I have seen their fledgeling hopping and fluttering around and he seems to have no interest in it now. Still, the nest is a nifty thing which makes me wonder about the birds that built it and how they went about it. It makes me wonder about instinct vs. intelligence. I feel lucky to get a glimpse into their domestic world.

Cosmic Kitty » birds

Hedge World