A damsel in distress - 2 - 6 May 2016


After the tree sparrow episode, we thought that it's a once in a blue moon happenstance. Lo and behold, the boys found a baby robin a few days later. It's learning to fly, but for a baby, it looked rather huge and fat. The robin parents were around and they made very loud, harsh threat calls like hissing krshhh whenever we went near the little one. 


"Let's be friends!!" Unlike the poodle, Cookie was very aggressive towards the little Robin-hood.

We tried as much as possible not to intervene, except to keep Robin-hood away from Cookie and harms. Cos it remained on the ground, hopping around, it's in constant danger. Fence or no fence, it did't stop Robin-hood from crossing into Cookie's territory. Can you see it squeezing thru? And that spelled trouble!!!! It's very interesting to observe the difference between the little sparrows and Robin-hood. The little sparrows flew almost immediately after they're fledged. Little robin, however, can remain on the ground for 10-14 days before it eventually flies, thus exposing it to all sorts of danger and predators. The survival rate of this specie is therefore low. There're many funny moments with Robin-hood. It entered the house, toilet and kitchen on many occasions and finding it was like a hide-'n-seek game.

One of the parents was always around during day-time, and continued to watch, feed and lead the little one away from danger. Unlike the tree sparrows, the robin parent was less diligent and attentive. Their presence slowly decreased as the days went by, and poor baby had to cry helplessly under the hot sun. Perhaps they have a reason to do so? Perhaps they realised something was wrong with their baby and it won't survive? We tried to feed it with mealworms and other stuff, but it refused everything from us. 


The constant calls from the robin parents attracted many busybodies to our  garden, the bulbul, sunbird, our little Tom and Harry and the evil crows!! 



A graceful, Oriental Magpie Robin. Both the parents did not come back to our garden the next day, as if they knew the fate of their little one. It's so sad, but this is nature. R.I.P. Robin-hood. 

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