A Parable of the Persistent Robin.
Posted By Cliff Tuttle | April 15, 2015
No. 1,137
While I was on the telephone today, I noticed a robin in a garden plot. She had taken hold of a thick string about 3 feet long, fastened to a post. Nesting material, I presume.
I say “she” because, according to information acquired in elementary school, males have a bright orange breast while females are muted in color.
She pulled on it and jumped around, trying to get a better angle. Then she flew away a short distance. Nothing she tried availed — garden string is pretty strong, you know.
So she flew away, but not too far. In a minute she was back pulling the same string. But it was to no avail.
Then a blue jay came along. He (bright color) sat on the garden fence and watched the robin trying to break the string.
The robin flew a few feet away to get a better view of the situation. So, the blue jay flew down to the ground and picked up the end of the string. He jumped around and flew around. He tried every angle. No success. Eventually, he flew away.
Immediately, the robin was back. Again she jumped around with the end of the string in her beak. At that point, I seriously thought about going down to the garden with a pair of scissors. But I had other things to do.
The next time I looked at the garden, the string was gone.
Take heart, nest builders everywhere!
CLT