Nature is cruel.

Okay, this one bothers me.

Earlier this year a robin tried to make a nest above our security lights next to our main entrance. I discouraged her by temporarily taping a plastic bag up there and eventually she chose a pine tree that overhangs our (never-used) dog kennel. But the nest was made at a bad angle and when the wind blew you'd think it would fall out. Despite our trying to help stabilize the nest with a wooden support, the four baby robins in there ended up falling out, one after the next and my standard poodle killed them. I know, my dog isn't part of nature, per se, but the robin insisted in building in our yard rather than in the wooded open space that borders our property. I'm assuming she lost out some territorial battle and our yard was the best she could get.

For her second clutch of the season, the robin once again insisted on the security light location. This would not work, as it's two feet above our door and not a stable location. So, one rainy day she decided to build her nest above the southern drain pipe that leads from our roof gutter. It wasn't going to work. As soon as her nest got to a certain size, it would start falling off, bit by bit. So I went out in the rain and nailed up an impromptu wind shield and two supports for her. She watched me do it and seemed very pleased.

The only problem was the second set of chicks. We were out of town when they hatched and happy to see two of them when we returned. Soon, however, one of them fell out (or was pushed out) of the nest. We made sure our dogs didn't get it and put it back in the nest, as it was pretty immature. Nope. Ten minutes later it was out again. To make sure our dogs didn't get it, we put it over the fence into the open space woods behind our property. We don't know what happened to it.

That left one baby. I figured this was her last chance this year. For a week it seemed fine, although at times the chick did look like it was going to go jumping out of the nest prematurely. Overall, however, we were optimistic: this one might make it.

We found it dead in the yard this morning. Dammit.