Stop obeying me like that!!!

The kids have been learning about birds lately, so I sent them outside this afternoon, binoculars in hand, to fill our backyard feeder and look at the local birds.  "When you are in the woods be quiet, and try to get as close to the birds as you can" I advised.

30 minutes later I heard a loud scuffling at the back door "Mom!!!! We found a bird, and we got REALLY close. We can see it's feathers, and it's round black eyes, and even it's claw toenails!!!  Come see!  Come see!"

Uh-oh . . . close enough to see a bird's "claw toenails" . . . this can't be good.  What they found:
A robin must have flown into our diningroom window that morning.  That is NOT what I meant when I said get close!!!

"Mom, It has beautiful feathers. Can we stretch out it's wing?"

"Uh . . . well . . . um . . ." Can you hear my gears turning - I love that they are interested in nature - and we learned that John Audubon often killed the songbirds that he was observing so that he could paint them more accurately, which means that the idea of messing with a dead bird is oddly appropriate, but UGGH!

So I came up with the hairbrained idea that they could touch the bird only AFTER I bagged it for them. Well, that turned into a rather wacky adventure. After looking closely at it, splaying it's wings and feeling it's beak, they happily carried it around the yard for a while.  Eventually they decided that "Robin red breast" needed a new nest. So this is what they did:
Sweet in the most repulsive kind of way.   I know.

Nature study isn't as pretty as it is cracked up to be!