Local Baby Robin Saved from Ice Bucket: Parents Not Grateful

For the last two years, a robin has built a nest in the northwest corner of our back porch awning. The wife (also known as my publisher) refuses to let me shoo these guys off once they start building. She's always afraid the female is already pregnant and can't afford time to get another nest built. With the Mothers' Union protection racket going, this year the robin mother hatched three babies. It gets pretty hectic when they fledge, and this year, the last one found its way into our ice bucket, left on our back porch from a party. I don't know how long it had been there when I found it, but the ice water was warm. I wish I had a picture of when I reached in to pull this little guy out. The parents screeched and squawked and opened their mouths wider than I thought robins could. The stupid little guy tried to bite me. I am not a worm. He jumped from my hands, skittered across the porch, and fell/flapped the eight feet down to the ground. His parents quickly attended to him -- feeding him cherries that the mother of my fledgling put out for these silly birds. He hid for a day or so and then was gone.