This past Monday, June 13th, six days before today's holiday of Father's Day, I heard a sound in my garden. I still don't have my replacement glasses (which I need as
my accident last month resulted in them being ruined as you can see from the image above), so I relied on my Canon 70D's long lens to see what was causing the unusual noise. The conditions were not optimal for photographing. It was in the wee (and still dark) hours of the morning. Also I was inside my place looking out through a broken window.
Still, I followed the noise from the vantage point of being behind a camera, then realized a baby bird or very young fledging, was alongside the
American Robin who has been visiting
my urban garden which is in close proximity to
NYC's
Central Park. I was thrilled for I've never seen such a young robin! However, both of these birds were hiding behind one of my clay pots, and with that, as well as the conditions I've just described, the images I did get are unclear, but I'm posting them anyway (below).
For as I mentioned in
a recent post here on Blogger, when photo-ops do not turn out as I would like, I try to console myself with the wisdom that
E.B. White spoke of in his essay, "
Remembrance is Sufficient."
An
excerpt from this can be found below:
"...A few weeks ago she (White's aunt) said something so close to the theme of Christmas that we shall quote it here... We were apologizing for have taken her for a motor ride that morning to see once again the bright colors of the woods. 'Why, my dear,' she said without hesitation, 'remembrance is sufficient of the beauty we have seen.'"
The joy I felt in seeing this precious encounter of robins having an early Father's Day celebration was indeed "sufficient." During the days that followed, I only saw the male robin and did not notice any appearances from his little one.
But today, Father's Day, I think I saw both of them. I say "think" because it has been six days since I first saw the little one with his/her father, and he/she is not so little anymore (as seen below).
Do they really grow that quickly in six days or is it a sibling of the very young bird I saw this past Monday? In any event, these photos of a very young robin, rather he/she is the same one or not, are still not the quality I'm capable of in the dark hours of the morning!
Thankfully, the little one came back when the sun was up, but his/her father behaved very strangely, unless it's typical of robins to give tough love? The little one seemed to be looking for his/her father, yet he/she still tried to do a number of tasks. Every time he/she did perform a "skill" (which can be seen below)...
... dad flew in, but the minute the little one looked to him for reassurance or love, he took off very quickly! I'm not sure what that's all about in the avian community, and in the coming days, once I get my glasses, I will try and research the issue.
Meanwhile, another bird type, cardinals, seem to be more willing to spend time with their children. Cam speaks about her role as an avian mother in both the iBook and ePub version of her book,
"Words In Our Beak," which can be seen below.
In both versions of the book, she speaks about her children and includes photos of her with them. Examples of this can be viewed in the following images.
However, the importance of a father/daughter relationship in the cardinal community is an issue Cam touches on in the
ePub version of her book, which is
dedicated to my father. In this version, Cam includes pictures of her husband Mac bonding with their daughter Peanut (one of the photos can be seen below).
Indeed Mac and his daughter Peanut seem to believe that Father's Day is for the birds, and I don't think they wait for an official day to honor this special relationship.
FALL 2018 ADDENDUM:
I no longer actively produce event program covers, invitations and the types of greeting cards described here or on my website but arrangements might be able to be made under certain circumstances. My focus is on the Words In Our Beak book series, pictured below...
...whose stories are told from the point of view of Cam, a female cardinal, whose photo is on the cover of each book. Words In Our Beak’s goal is to open readers to a simple understanding of the winged world and their environment. Set in my rooftop urban garden in New York City. Words In Our Beak is directed to children and adults who are curious about birds, and want to learn about them from a unique perspective. The books include hundreds of images of flora and fauna, links to movies, as well as to informative narratives that have been created by the author.
Please click here to go to my blog post that provides details as to where you can get these books. Additionally, I have rendered some images from these books into other formats and they are available via Fine Art America (FAA). Some of my other photographs (Black & White Collection, Kaleidoscopic Images and the famous Mandarin duck who visited NYC) can also be found on my FAA pages.
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