The Amazing Story of Red Robin

“Sadly enough, the most painful goodbyes are the ones that are left unsaid and never explained.” - Jonathan Harnisch

The first time I ever saw the duck that would become as Red Robin, or mostly just Robin, he came walking right up. It was almost as if he needed something. Well, about all I could think a duck could need is food, so I went in and got some bread. He ate it right out of my hand. Clearly this wasn’t a wild duck.

It turns he was a domesticated breed called a Muscovy. They are known for a couple of things… they love to forage (definitely one of Robin’s hobbies), they roost in trees (it turns out that is where he liked to sleep… I wouldn’t find that out until later, though) and they have a distinctive red mask.

Robin’s mask reminded me of the one Robin used to wear in the old Batman and Robin series from the 1960s so I started calling him Red Robin… like the little jingle from the commercials. “Red…. Robin… yummmm!”

At first, Robin came around sporadically… every couple of days. My Mom had dropped off some food when I told her about him so I would feed him some cracked corn, duck pellets or, his real favorite, bird seed (my mom basically has a wildlife preserve in her backyard so she’s always got all of this stuff).

Drinking a bourbon slush outside with Robin

Soon, I noticed if I came outside, he would walk to me. I mean literally walk. He had this pigeon-toed walk where literally he didn’t stride, one foot had to life up over another so initially, I assumed he couldn’t even fly. I mean why would he walk all the way down the street, or all the way up from the dam at the lake in my backyard if he could fly?

Later, I would learn he could fly, but it’s just not something he did a lot. He would just walk in that funny little duck style of his whenever I was outside… so guess what? I started spending more time outside. Just hanging out with Robin. If I was in my chair on the porch, sitting next to me was that duck. Not doing anything… just sitting there. The neighbor might come out and her dog would be all yipping when she saw Robin, but he would just look at the dog inquisitively. I always imagined him saying, “How come she doesn’t like Robin?”

I mean who wouldn’t like him. He was as sweet as could be… just sitting by side ,my little duck buddy. Sometimes he would start to drift off asleep and he’d wake himself up as his neck fell which reminded me of my days back in high school falling asleep at my desk and being startled awake as my head fell down or shifted off of my hand.

Robin at bath time

A real game changer came about when Royce and Rebekah Neeley came for a visit. Just on cue, they pulled up and there I was on my porch with my little friend. Rebekah, a real animal lover fell in love with this gentle little character and suggested I get him something he could take a bath in. Well, I have this little kiddie pool that I keep on hand when I need to clean out a koi pond I have in the front yard. You’ve gotta put the fish somewhere when you are cleaning it out, so I had this pool in the storage shed. I got it out and filled it up. At first, Robin didn’t seem to know what to think. It was like an oversized water dish for him where he would take a drink out of it and that’s about it.

He had this funny drinking style too. Almost like we see in tasting bourbon that has been perfected by the Beam family… the Kentucky Chew. He would get a drink of water and smack his beak like he was giving it the old Kentucky Chew.

While he didn’t get in the bath right away, before the Neeleys left, he would jump in, and let me tell you, it was a scene. Dunking his head underwater, flapping his wings and then the preening afterwards. A duck bath, as it turns out, takes about 90-minutes.

Once that pool got installed in my front yard, Robin was at the house everyday. I’m not kidding, it was without fail. He showed up every single day between the hours and 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. after he had his very own pool in my front yard. Sometimes he would show up at lunch time and spend a few hours hanging out… a few times even early in the morning, but not matter if he stopped by during the day or not, he would come over in the later afternoon, take a bath and hangout until early evening. Sometimes, I would be hanging out with him and he was sitting on one leg, trying not to fall asleep… eventually, it would be time to go home so he would start the walk to my backyard, down to the dam and he would fly to the woods.

Robin, caught on the porch camera looking for me when I wasn’t home

Having Robin around did change me. I would get out there and clean his kiddie pool in the morning so he would be set for that night (he wouldn’t bathe in that pool unless it was clean). I mean I even read a book… something I hadn’t done in years, just because it was an activity I could do while sitting outside with Robin.

Robin sitting in his favorite spot, “The Wetlands”

When friends would come by, they would be amazed at Robin, just sitting in a spot I like to call “The Wetlands” (a patch of Zebra grass growing next to the koi pond in front of the porch). He would just hang out there and chill. I would always say he was trying out to be a Ducks Unlimited model since you always see their ducks in a similar type of background.

Over the past few months, it’s been my routine… hangout each night before podcasting with Robin. On nights off, I would spend hours sitting there with him. A man thinking about his day… his life with a little buddy doing duck things. No matter what your mood for the day was, he would put a smile on my face because when you said hello to him, he would shake his tail feathers which I assume is the international duck greeting for, “Hello friend.” I even took to playing that 60s song “Rockin’ Robin” for him and sometimes he’d get those tail feathers shaking to the beat.

This Monday was different, though… he didn’t show up.

I was concerned but remembered back to the days when he wouldn’t show up everyday and thought, well, I guess I will see him tomorrow.

Tuesday… no Robin. Now I was worried.

Wednesday… no Robin. I wasn’t worried anymore. I knew.

I wanted to go looking for him… but if I didn’t he was still there… he was alive… perhaps just too busy hanging with the many other neighbors who also like to feed him and make over him during his visits.

I knew I had to go into the dense woods on the left side of the lake to look for him

Let’s face it… it’s a cruel world out there when you are a duck living in the wild. We’ve got coyotes and foxes in the area… not to mention some neighbors who hate all wildlife despite the fact we live adjacent to the woods with a lake between us.

On Thursday, I decided I would have to hike into the woods. It’s not an easy trek. It’s overgrown. There’s ticks, poison ivy and sticker bushes thrown in there as well. While I didn’t know what I was looking for… I had to try. At the last minute, I grabbed a trash bag… I thought if I find his body back there, I’m bringing him home for a proper burial. So I get to the woods and just start heading towards the back. I keep looking… calling Robin because if he’s there, he knows my voice.

After a good 45-minutes over trudging around, I looked down. My ankles were raw and bleeding from the underbrush. There was no signs of Robin. I literally went everywhere he could have possibly been… the peninsula where he would sit… the trees where I saw him roost… the back parts of the lake… nothing.

Maybe that’s a good thing. The unknown. Maybe he decided to move on… a different spot… a new lake… a new adventure. I’d sure like to think so… I know I will miss him. I even have a photo from his last day here… it’s testament that it never got boring, I never took it for granted that him being here was special.

To my little buddy… Red Robin… thank you for coming into my life… even if it was a short visit.

The photo I took of Robin the last day I saw him.