Winged hope

A pair of robins have built a nest on this little box on the side of the front porch. The box is maybe a foot long and 6 inches wide. It was once an outside alarm for the alarm system the house used to have. We have a keypad so there was an alarm and the box, made out of metal, could only be a siren of somekind.

The two of them are always around. The male is huge--one of the biggest robins I've ever seen--and the female isn't petite. So the nest, as carefully crafted as it is--and it is that--seems precarious to me, especially since the prototype fell off and they had to totally rebuild.

She sits on the nest and he is in a tree where he can watch her. She used to fly away whenever we came out the front door--but now she mostly peers over the nest at us and he starts yelling until we walk away or go inside.

I admire their hopefulness greatly, though I think chances are the nest will be blown off again. And what did they think, building so close to people and a dog? They fly right above the deck on the way to the front porch and their song fills the hours.

It is touching to be so close to them. I anthropomorphize and begin to think we'll be friends!

I fear for them and their brood--there must be eggs or she wouldn't always be there. But there is something both noble and sweet about their presence so near to ours....