OMG I'm gonna cry

DH just called to tell me excitedly that the birds were gone from the nest in my fern. The babies had been getting big and covered with darling little feathers. We thought at first that they had flown away to be happy little birds - then while still on the phone he said "OH NO". He found the baby birds, both of them, dead in the front yard. /cry. We don't know what happened. He said they looked like they had been pecked to death and they were quite a mess. Best we can figure is that they were unsuccessful at their attempt to fly away and jays or something must have gotten to them. I'm so sad! Nature can be so unforgiving.