What a morning we had today.  We were going about our normal morning business breakfast ,music lessons and getting ready for school.  The calm of our morning came to an abrupt end when Holly, our beautiful yet hyper and crazy labrador retriever started to bark like crazy at the back door.

Now I guess I should back track just a little and state that the girls and I noticed a Robin building a nest in one of the plum trees in the back yard a bit over a week ago.  We know she laid eggs because the girls check on her daily as she sits ever patiently on them in the nest.  She is very accepting of the curious little eyes staring up at her.  I have stressed to the girls not to get too close and never to try to touch the nest.

So, back to this morning.  Holly was barking out of control so I looked out the kitchen window.  To my horror I saw 2 Crows in the tree with the nest.  I ran to the door and opened it.  Now, my dog is 80 pounds of pure lovable best friend.  She has a mighty big bark and is very protective of my girls.  When I opened the door she took off in a full sprint toward the tree barking the entire time.  The Crows circled the tree and then took off.  Holly ran back and forth until something caught her attention under the tree.  She stood looking at us at the door and then back at the ground.  She did this several times without moving.

I went out to find the tiniest baby bird laying on the ground.  The girls of course followed.  I told them to run inside and get a paper plate and a step stool.  The bird was breathing but was so tiny and had just fallen about 7 feet onto rock.  I could almost hear my mother’s voice in my head telling me not to touch that bird!  In front of me were my girls and the very protective dog who all expected me to do something great.  What could I do?

I sprang into action giving the little thing a push onto the plate. I rolled it into a little tube and  then climbed up on the step stool getting as close as I could to the nest without having an eye poked out.  I was able to get the plate right into the edge of the nest where I then poured the baby in.  As I was climbing down I realized I was being watched by the mother from a fence panel.  She seemed very calm waiting for us to leave before taking her place back on top of her perfectly made nest.

We have checked on her several times during the day.  She has been in position on the nest.  We all have our fingers crossed that the baby makes it through.  I always knew our lovable dog protected my girls like a mother, who knew she was looking out for all of the creatures in the yard!