Mr. and Mrs. Robin's family. (1977)

[Music] most of us know these birds the robins the friendly neighbors who live in our parks and yards the story of our mr and mrs robin and their family begins in a yard on a sunny day in march if you looked about carefully you could see the small leaves of tulips beginning to sprout there were no leaves on the trees but some of the buds were beginning to get large can you tell what season it was it was early spring and high in a tree singing his cheerful song was the first rock [Music] a man looked at him and said now spring is surely here [Music] a boy and girl heard the song and thought how pretty it is robin didn't know what people were saying he just looked about over the yards and the houses and sidewalks he knew so well several days later the grass was greener and tiny leaves were opening on twigs mr robin was no longer alone for mrs robin had come to be with him mrs robin seemed to be looking for something she flew up and looked at the limbs of an old apple tree she looked at some bushes she looked at some evergreen trees can you guess what she was looking for [Music] she was looking for a place to build a nest and this is the place she picked the pine tree how she did work gathering bits of grass and twigs for the nest mr robin helped too he gathered mud that would help make the nest strong but most of the work was done by mrs robin the grass and twigs were woven into a snug strong nest held together with mud it was a nest that fitted her exactly but mrs robin wasn't the only one who had built a nest one pair of robins had built their nest near a house another built a nest in the crotch of a big elm tree and still another had built a nest in a sheltered place on a garden fence probably mrs robin thought her nest was in the best place a day or two after the nest was finished guess what happened yes a blue egg laid by mrs robin and a few days after that two eggs then three and finally four eggs all together and then mrs robin settled down to keep her eggs warm sometimes mr robin looked for worms sometimes he just hopped about in the warm spring sun but mrs robin just sat quietly the days passed it was april now there were beautiful blossoms on some of the trees and shrubs sometimes mrs robin left her nest to find something to eat but she never stayed away from her nest too long day after day she sat for 13 days then came a beautiful day the tulips were bright in the warm sun mrs robin was sitting quietly everything looked the same but look baby robins they were very small and had soft down instead of feathers their eyes were closed they looked quite helpless mrs robin never left them very long she settled over the babies to keep them warm mr robin stayed close by too now came busy days for mr and mrs robin feeding their hungry youngsters was a full-time job mr and mrs robin were kept busy finding worms and insects and bringing them to their hungry family after a few days the youngsters were a little larger their eyes were open and their feathers were beginning to grow late in the day when the shadows grew long and it began to get cool [Music] mrs robbins snuggled down and covered her babies with her feathers [Music] and mr robin filled the evening with his sweet song [Music] the days passed and the youngsters grew now they were almost covered with feathers they looked more and more like mr and mrs robin [Music] and every day the parents were gathering food to feed four hungry mouths finally when the youngsters were 14 days old they were ready to leave the nest one was almost ready to fly but not quite ready and then one by one they flew one landed on the grass one landed on a sidewalk one made his way to a branch and the fourth landed near the garden with speckled breasts they were all very pretty mother robin stayed close by she was very alert what did she see a cat mr robin became very alarmed [Music] the cat was watching one of the young robins then the baby robin heard a bell [Music] the bell the cat was wearing away he hopped look out the baby flew and got away soon mr robin came to feed him that was a good meal by the time they were four weeks old in june the baby robins could get about quite well they were getting used to living away from the nest mr robin had a little time to enjoy himself in the bird bath with other friendly birds and mrs robin what about her she had built a second nest this time on a downspout yes she had settled down to raise her second family it was early summer now the robins were enjoying a favorite food ripe cherries and while the young robins were learning to eat cherries mr and mrs robin were taking care of their second family like the first family these youngsters grew and grew as the days went by it was summer now at last mrs robin had some time to join mr robin in the birdbath their second family was out of the nest they looked much like the babies of the first family with speckled breasts near the end of summer the youngsters had lost their speckled feathers now they look very much like mr and mrs robin often all the youngsters and the parents gather together on the lawn they still use the birdbath even though the days were getting cooler yes autumn was coming some of the leaves were falling and then one morning the water in the birdbath was frozen mr and mrs robin and one youngster sat in the cold wind the others were gathering on the lawn and then they began to fly away the last of the robins was gone the garden was quiet mr and mrs robin and their youngsters had flown south winter came it would be many weeks before the robins would come back but someday when the buds on the trees began to open mr robin would be the first one to return singing his cheerful song and everyone who saw him would say spring is surely here there is a robin [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]