Invisible Voice: "We're Expecting!" a.k.a. "The Birds and the Bees" or "Just the Birds"

Spring has sprung and summer is just about here! It's the time of year for animals who lay-low in the winter to come out and do what they do best: eat and reproduce.

Every year we robins that nest in the smoke tree that is right off our back porch. Because of all the ice and snow that we had last winter, the tree was badly damage and had to be cut back almost to the trunk. It was a nice surprise when the leaves filled out what looked to be a tree trunk in the dirt.

Over the past week or so I've noticed a pair of robins flying to and from the tree. I couldn't help but feel bad that there was no place for them to build a home and raise their kids. I couldn't see where in the tree they were flying to and from so I wasn't sure if they were actually in the market for real estate or just perusing. Yesterday I looked in and around the tree to see if there was a nest or anything that might resemble such and only saw some scraggly twigs/dried grass (nothing spectacular) which really could have been dropped/ blown/ accidentally put there by anybody. This morning I finally saw where they were going, and, lo and behold! I found an entire nest!!! Right where the grass/twigs were yesterday!!!

So, want to know when we might have little ones gracing our home with their presence? Here is the timeline from last year's brood and what you might expect to find around these dates this year:

June 17th - we discovered a 3-egg clutch in the nest
June 27 - 3 hatchlings!!
June 29 - Eyes squinting open; one fledgling missing
July 1 - Eyes wide open with lots of down; beginning to get their (baby) robin colors; moving wings; will call for food
July 3 - Fully spreading/stretching wings; well-feathered; will stand up to take food
July 7 - Second fledgling missing; remaining baby walking/hopping around nest, fluttering wings; standing on the edge of nest
July 8 - Leaves nest

Here's what we've got so far: