I step outside and find a seemingly stranded baby robin

I stepped outside and found this baby robin, just beyond the porch, near the front left tire of the car. It sat immobile, turning its head a little bit, occasionally opening its beak as if asking for food, but otherwise not moving. Usually, in such a situation one can expect the parent robins to start raising a fuss, to try to draw you away from their baby. But there were no parent robins in sight. I listened carefully but could hear no adult robins. I looked all around but could see no other robins.

I told Margie and brought her out to see. She said she had heard some robins earlier in the morning, on the wires in the northwest corner of the yard. I did not know what to do. It appeared the baby robin was helpless and that the parents had given up on it and abandoned it. But I did not know this for sure. There was nothing I could do for the baby robin but leave it alone and hope its parents came back for it. I took a couple of pictures, but did not touch it. Then I left it alone.

I checked back an hour later. The baby robin was gone. I could hear an adult robin chirping somewhere in the trees in the front yard. I do not know what happened. I hope it turned out okay and that the baby robin will get a chance to grow and to try to survive in this harsh world. I have no way to know.

Maybe a cat got it. Not one of my cats. Chicago never goes outside and I have not let Jim go out for weeks, precisely because I knew robins had nested in the yard. When he does go out, I chaperone him every minute.