Whose yard is it? and the Terra Cotta Warriors

Robins built a nest in the crook of the downspout outside the bedroom window overlooking the back yard.  The hen robin is sitting on the nest and the cock robin is aggressively protecting the territory -- to the extent that we can't sit out on the patio.  It's a good thing it's been so dry that I haven't had to mow.  

I sat in the garage at the doorway to the patio to get a picture of Cock Robin in action.  He chirps a warning, then puffs up his feathers, then swoops in. He veers off a good distance from the intruder.  (This is an enlarged and cropped photo -- I'd say he was about 20 feet away.)

I looked online and learned that robins can have as many as three broods a season, but that they hatch and fledge in about two weeks.  (Helpful advice included the fact that the robin aims for the highest point of the intruder, so if you go out holding up a broom it will go for the broom head, not your head. However, that doesn't help much if you're trying to mow the lawn.)

Meanwhile, we saw warriors of another sort on Wednesday. The Chinese Terra Cotta Warriors are on exhibit at the Field Museum.  Stevens and I met my friend Pat at the museum.  The warriors were discovered in 1974 and the excavation is still going on.  More than 7,000 have been unearthed so far. (This website is one of many with additional information.)   Since it is unlikely that we'll get to China to see them in situ we were glad that about 30 of them came to Chicago.  

 No two warriors look alike. Archaeologists have been able to determine ranks and specialties by the costumes and postures.