The robins nest
May 14, 2005 through June 10, 2005

by Julie Corsi

Day by day story was originally posted at www.i-pets.com/blog

Daily photos are at Flickr

May 14, 2005

In May, 2005, a robin built her nest under my bedroom window. The nest is on top of a rose trellis. The first time I opened the window to get a close look was May 13. The nest was perfect but empty.

Amazing that without engineering and tools of all sorts, a bird can make something so symetrical and beautiful.

On May 14, I opened the window to take another look. Hey! There's an egg! Mama bird laid her first egg.

May 15, 2005

May 15, 2005. Day three since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window. The mama bird was in there this morning, but must be at lunch right now, so I was able to sneak a peek.

She's been busy! We're up to two eggs. Good girl!

May 16, 2005

May 16, 2005. Day four since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window. The nest is about 6 1/2 feet above ground, on top of a rose trellis, and about 4 feet below one of my bedroom windows.

The mama bird is usually in the nest and I'd like to take a picture of her sitting in her home, but she flies away when she hears me cranking the window open.

Yesterday, there were two eggs. Today, hurray! There are three!

I'll have to do some research now on egg hatching times to prepare for future discoveries.

May 17, 2005

May 17, 2005. Day five since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window. Today, I was lucky enough to catch mama bird still in the nest. On past days, she would fly away as soon as she heard me turn the crank to open the window. This picture is early in the morning, maybe she was still half asleep.

I made an interesting discovery comparing the close-up of the eggs from yesterday and today:

May 18, 2005

May 18, 2005. Day six since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window.

So ... how long does it take for robin's eggs to hatch?

According to Eggs & Nest - Advice from WildBirds.com it should be 14 to 16 days.

May 19, 2005

May 19, 2005. Day seven since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window.

We're having severe thunderstorms, but I braved hanging out the window to get this photo.

Amazing how the mother bird spreads her wings & lifts her tail so that water gathers on her back instead of the nest. Her head is to the left, obscured by the rose leaf.

Enlarge view to see the water gleaming on her feathers.

Here's how the eggs look today:

May 20, 2005

May 20, 2005. Day eight since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window.

The nest is on top of a trellis which was built to support a climbing rose bush. As the rose is growing, it's starting to interfere with my picture angles. Today, I risked my life to hang out the window to try to cut some of the leaves which are in the way.

I hope the neighbors aren't watching. But they think I'm crazy anyway, so I guess it wouldn't matter if they saw me hanging out my bedroom window holding a pair of pruning shears with a camera dangling around my neck.

May 21, 2005

May 21, 2005. Day nine since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window.

I'll get pictures later today of what the nest looks like from ground level.

May 22, 2005

May 22, 2005. Day ten since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window. The nest is at the left, at the top of the rose trellis.

This is a fairly busy area, we walk along a path through here to get to the back yard. The robin mom used to fly away as soon as she heard a noise of any sort, but she seems to have become used to us and only flies away now when I open the bedroom window above her.

Here's all you see of mom robin & her nest, looking up, at ground level. And here's what the eggs look like today, when mom robin left to get herself some lunch.

May 23, 2005

May 24, 2005

May 24, 2005. Day twelve since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window.

I've watched this mama robin for twelve days now, and have realized how much we under rate other creatures. We think of most animals, especially birds, as dumb brutes with very little intelligence.

But look at this nest. Perfectly circular without a compass, straight without a level, tightly woven without an instruction manual. Imagine the hours it took to find the perfect spot to build, to forage for the right building materials, and to have it be finished before it was time to lay the first egg.

Now, there she sits, hour after hour, protecting her unborn babies, using her body to keep them warm and dry. She's certainly already outdone many human mothers.

May 24, 2005

May 25, 2005. Day thirteen since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window. The oldest egg is 12 days old today.

I'm eagerly waiting for that first egg to hatch, which should be any day now, and did some research while I was waiting.

Some facts about robins:

Mating:Robins generally remain together for the breeding season, but often mate with other individuals the following year.

Nesting: It takes from two to six days to make the nest, with an average of 180 trips per day to find materials. Males sometimes help gather nesting materials but the female chooses the site and builds the nest.

Brooding: The female robin incubates her eggs for about 12 to 16 days. She sits on the eggs for 40-minute periods. Then she stands up, turns the eggs and flies off to feed or for a break. The male stands guard and sometimes sits on the eggs.

May 26, 2005

May 26, 2005. Day fourteen since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window. The oldest egg is 13 days old today.

The mama robin used to fly away when she heard me at the window. Now, either she's getting used to me, or she wants to really stay close to her eggs, but she's hanging around until picture taking is over with.

Here's how she looked today, waiting patiently for me to get done with my egg exam.

And here's what the eggs look like today:

May 27, 2005

May 27, 2005. Day fifteen since I discovered the robin's nest under my bedroom window.

It's been fourteen days since the first egg was laid.

Today, the mama bird refuses to leave the nest for our photo session. I don't know if any eggs have hatched or not & don't want to startle her for fear that she will just abandon the nest.

Some facts about robins:

Common Name: American robin
French: Merle d'Amérique
Spanish: Mirlo primavera

Scientific Name: Turdus migratorius
Order PASSERIFORMES - Family TURDIDAE

Society: In summer, females sleep on the nests and males congregate in roosts. As young robins become independent, they join the males in the roost. Female adults go to the roosts only after they have finished nesting.

Nesting: An American Robin can produce three successful broods in one year. On average, though, only 40 percent of nests successfully produce young.

Life-time: About half of the robins alive in any year will make it to the next. Despite the fact that a lucky robin can live to be 14 years old, the entire population turns over on average every six years.

May 28, 2005

I checked the nest at 7 a.m. Again, today, the mama bird wouldn't move out of the nest. One egg or egg shell was visible under her feathers.

I checked again at 9:00 a.m. Hey! Hey! We have three gorgeous little baby robins!

Now, I watch from the ground outside - there's a lot of activity, both the male and female come and go, but one is usually in the nest, protecting the babies.

When neither adult is around, I run inside to try to grab a photo. What we noticed right away is that there are no left over egg shells either in the nest or on the ground under the nest. Amazing that the birds would clean this up.

May 29, 2005

Baby robins, day 2

It's difficult to get pictures of the babies, the male and female take turns covering them for warmth. While one is in the nest, the other is out gathering food. They will leave the nest if I open the window and lean out with the camera, but I don't want to scare them and have them abandon the babies.

Some facts about robins:

Song: The robin is one of the first birds to sing in the morning and is one of the last to be heard at night. The male is most vocal, usually singing from high points in the morning and during courtship. The robin is one of the few birds to sing throughout the winter.

»listen to robin's songs.

Diet: Though we think of robins as eating mainly earthworms, in fact earthworms and other invertebrates make up about 40 percent of its diet. Most of their food is fruit. They find earthworms by sight rather than by sound.They eat invertebrates mainly in the spring, summer and early morning, but rely on fruit later in the day, in the fall and winter. Their preferred fruits are grapes, cherries, tomatoes, pokeberries, mistletoe berries, rowan berries and in southern states, the fruits of the Sabal Palm. Robins also eat beetles, grasshoppers and other insects. Occasionally, robins eat small snakes and shrews, and they sometimes go on the seashore at low tide for molluscs or in water to pick up fish fry.

Chicks: The chicks are fed by both parents. They eat about 35 to 40 meals a day. The parents keep the nests clean by carrying away or eating the chicks' fecal sacs.

May 30, 2005

Baby robins, day three

May 30 - The chicks are little less pink and less sore looking than they were yesterday.

The male and female robin got into a confrontation with another bird this afternoon. A starling was hanging around and maybe acted a little too interested in the robins' nest. Mama robin dove to the ground and stumbled around with her wing extended as if she were injured. While the starling watched the female robin, the male robin attacked the starling. This went on for a few minutes until the starling decided it had had enough & flew away.

May 31, 2005

Baby robins, day four

May 31 - This is about all you see all day long now - chicks with beaks open, waiting for food. I wouldn't want to be the one keeping those hungry little bellies filled.

Both adults are very attentive to the chicks and the surrounding area. For as dirty as birds usually are, the nest is spotless. There are no feathers or debris on the ground under the nest.

It seems that the male and female take equal turns covering the chicks to warm them and also to hunt for food and to feed the chicks.

June 1, 2005

Baby robins, day five

June 1 - What a noticable change since yesterday. The largest chick now has what are the obvious beginings of pin feathers.

Like most babies, they spend most of the day sleeping. When awake, they're shrieking for food.

Some facts about robins:

Chicks: The father becomes more involved in feeding and nest maintenance as the chicks get older because the mother might have left to build a new nest for the next brood. When they are about 13 days old, the chicks leave the nest. They stay in their parents' territory for a few weeks but leave after about a month.

Wintering: Robins roost, or collect in flocks. Males do this year round, but the females and young join them during the winter. Roosts can get as big as 250,000 birds, but normally they are 20 to 200 birds.

Even though the robin is a symbol of spring, it actually spends its winter in much of its breeding range. In winter they spend less time in yards and more time in large flocks, so they are seen less often.

June 2, 2005

Mama robin usually flies away when I crank the window open, or she turns her back and ignores me. Today she was just standing on the edge of the nest, admiring her offspring, and instead of flying away, she turned and looked right at me.

Then, she gave a horrendous loud shriek and flew off!

Scared me so bad, I almost fell out of the window.

Here's what the 5-day old chicks look like:

June 3, 2005

Baby Robins - Day 7

I heard the chicks cheeping for the first time today. Even with their beaks open, they've been quiet so far, but today, even with the window closed, I could tell that it was dinner time.

The chick at the bottom left has his eye open! How amazing that must be - 15 days in a small, cramped eggshell, 6 days in a mysterious dark world, and suddenly, light!

June 4, 2005

Baby Robins - Day 8

All lined up, beaks ready, waiting for mom or dad to bring the food.

June 5, 2005

Baby robins - day 9

The downy, underfeathers are filling in. The chicks have less pink, bald spots now.

They spend most of the day sleeping but in an unusual position - they rest their heads, beak up, on the edge of the nest. Even while asleep, a beak opens every now and then.

Dreams of food?

June 6, 2005

Baby robins - day 10

Day 10 since the eggs have hatched.

They're almost starting to look like birds, aren't they?

The little beaks look less awkward, the eyes aren't so bulbous. Their feathers are filling in.

I haven't seen any of the chicks stand up yet. I've seen them reach their necks out to almost impossible lengths and open their beaks to an enormous gape. From the ground, under the nest, you can see a little beak hanging over the edge of the nest every now and then.

June 7, 2005

Baby robins - day 11

June 7. Here's what you see from the ground - three little pointy, hungry beaks.

More feathers have grown since yesterday.

The chicks have arranged themselves for easier feeding, all lined up and waiting. Mom & dad robin spend pretty much the entire day flying back and forth, making food deposits.

June 8, 2005

Baby robins - day 12 since hatching

June 8

The chicks are maturing.

The middle chick is growing orangey-red feathers under his throat.

I guess they are officially robins now!

June 9, 2005

Baby robins - day 13 since hatching

June 9

The chicks are looking pretty grown up.

I wonder how much longer they'll stay in the nest.

June 10, 2005

Robin's nest - day 14 since eggs hatched

June 10

Into the great wide open,
Under them skies of blue

Good bye little sweeties,
Catch lots of worms
Eat bunches of ripe berries
Come back and sing for me once in a while.

Daily photos are posted at Flickr.