God's Growing Garden: Modern Bird's Nest & A Fighting Robin

Friday, July 11, 2025

Modern Bird's Nest & A Fighting Robin

Modern Bird's Nest & A Fighting Robin

My husband found this abandoned cardinal's nest in the yard a few weeks ago. At first I was saddened by the use of garbage in the building of the nest (pieces of plastic and other food wrappers), but then I thought "maybe it was a smart move."

Maybe the wrappers and other garbage used in the bottom and sides of the nest made it warmer by reflecting the bird's own heat back into the eggs. (see picture below)

And maybe the piece of hard plastic was a rain canopy for the momma bird (see picture below).

Whether you think it's sad or smart of the bird to use garbage - I think the moral of this nest story is to make the best of whatever is around us.

A Fighting Robin

That same day I was checking the ripening progress of my apricots when I noticed a squirrel shredding the apricot flesh off of the pit and only eating the pit. I went up to the tree and gave it a gentle shake which made the squirrel fly-jump to the neighboring pear tree. Immediately the squirrel got attacked by a robin. That robin was relentless and forced the squirrel to evacuate entirely from the pear tree. (see picture above and below)

Normally, I catch squirrels discarding pear flesh and only eating the pear seeds. In years past they destroy all of the pears. Maybe, thanks to the fighting robin, I might actually have some pears this year!