And now, as Paul Harvey used to say, it's time "For the Rest of the Story."

Just over a week has gone by since I began taking pictures of the thrush family, and now, it's all over.  
At about 8 am this Sunday morning, three of the babies left the nest and disappeared. One little fellow or lady, was left. The runt of the litter so to speak no doubt. 
I watched the nest carefully, checking it as soon as we got back from church, but the little bird continued to pace around the perimeter of his nest and no parents were visible. The boys left for a birthday party but we three adults continued to monitor both the nest and the yard. I walked around the entire house very slowly, peering under bushes and what-not, but didn't see or hear anything. More importantly, none of us saw either of the parent birds.  
Finally, about 1 pm, Jeanne and Allie decided to do something about it. This little bird had been fed almost constantly up until then. It had now eaten nothing for a good 4 to 5 hours. It was no longer pacing it's nest, it was just sitting and seemed somewhat lethargic. Since the parents hadn't returned in all this time, we figured it had been abandoned. 
Jeanne and Allie took it down and fed it a worm. A big one. Then they made a temporary nest for it in an old shoebox. Over the next hour or so, they fed it five more worms. 
And then, a breakthrough. I spotted one of the parents, well, at least it was of that species of bird anyway, in the front yard. It had come to our yard from a perch in a Magnolia tree down the street. I thought it likely that it could be a parent. Jeanne deftly placed the baby in a shady spot nearby. We heard the baby loudly tweeting and realized that momma couldn't help but hear it's racket.  We then went for a walk. 
When we returned, junior was gone from where he had been. 
We think that we assisted in providing for the best possible outcome. 
Here are a few last pictures of this, the song thrush saga.

 No doubt this little one was from the last egg laid and hatched. Just a little bit behind it's bigger siblings. 

A new mess on the deck. 

We think the other babies made either a rather abrupt landing here, beneath the nest, as they tried their wings for the first time, and pooped as a result, or they each pooped as they left the nest and used that elimination as a sort of added propulsion on their first, very tramatic flight. Regardless, we have a bit of a mess. 

Allie offered the baby a worm but it wasn't interested. She had to take baby down... 

It seemed to relax 

How's that for a meal, huh?

The empty nest. I wonder if it will be reused?  It is very clean. 

Good luck thrush family.  -djf