Robin addition to our addition...

wishiwere · Post by **wishiwere** » May 24, 2007 4:47 pm

We have been watching this Robin who took over the shelf in our storage addition out back of the workshop. She laid the first egg on 5/19, the last on the 22nd.

We've got a video cam on her through the back window into the shed, but I have to go out into the shed to get pics of the inside of the nest. The octogan piece next to her is just standing there, and not a support, and the boards she built on are just a stack of wood. Mr. Robin stays just outside or above the shed in a tree all night and most of the day. This morning was the first time I saw him bring her a morsel. I think b/c he's as anxious to keep her on the nest as I've been. She's neglectful at night on this, having only stayed one night, then not last night or the night before. Hoping she learns quickly that they won't hatch without her care and sticking it out! Hopefully she's not to young to raise this brood!

renaldo75 · Post by **renaldo75** » May 25, 2007 1:51 pm

Sounds like your robin lady maybe wasn't quite ready to settle down yet.

Good luck!!

wishiwere · Post by **wishiwere** » May 26, 2007 7:33 am

It's been strange. She sits on the nest all day from sun up to sun down, but I think she flys the coop ever night for a night on the branch?

I doubt the eggs will hatch with here leaving at night. He's been increasing his visits and even escorted to the nest once or twice. When he comes and she's not there, he just eats what he's brought, then waits on the nest edge for her return. He appears quite perplexed that she isn't there. Looking in on the eggs and around, like, 'where could she have gone now?'

renaldo75 · Post by **renaldo75** » May 26, 2007 1:45 pm

I'm afraid you're probly right.

Papa robins must not take turns sitting on eggs like some other males birds do.

PeggyC · Post by **PeggyC** » May 27, 2007 8:13 am

Jane, a robin built a nest in the bush by the back door at work.

It didn't seem like she spent a whole lot of time sitting on the nest. One egg was pushed (how else would it get on the ground?) out of the next, one baby died and she and papa are raising two. Hope that all of your eggs hatch!!

wishiwere · Post by **wishiwere** » May 28, 2007 10:16 pm

Awwwwwwwww...too sweet! I've heard they (the eggs) can still be viable nearly a month later once they start to sit on them. We've been gone 2 days and she was on when we returned late this afternoon, but again, left about 9 pm and hasn't returned! Maybe she's just too young to breed?

And no, male robins will sit (or stand) on the edge of the nest, but rarely sit on them. We keep hoping she'll grow up!

Squash Blossom · Post by **Squash Blossom** » May 30, 2007 10:44 pm

For awhile there I was reading everything I could find about robins. One thing I read was that big groups of robins roost together at night - it's like a community effort, ordinarily the father robins hold the group together and the mother robins will be there unless they have a current brood to manage.

I think Rocky, his nest and two little siblings probably fell out of the tree because his mother may not have known how to engineer a secure nest and/or take care of her babies.

Do y'all know how robin nests always look rather like they've been plastered with smooth mud? The mother robin does that with her breast.

Rocky's nest barely had any dried mud on it, it was very poorly constructed - which is the #1 reason I don't think his mother was very experienced!

These pictures are wonderful!

Ann

wishiwere · Post by **wishiwere** » Jun 01, 2007 10:14 pm

She's been staying on the nest every night since I last posted, so here's hoping. Had she been on the nest every night, since the second egg and her first night all night, I had thought today was the day for a 1st hatch, but nothing happened.

We have noticed she seems to be fidgeting more today, turning eggs more, pushing and pulling at the bottom of the nest and what not. And yesterday he started really come in a lot when she isn't there as if waiting.

It's cute to watch him watch the eggs. Cocks his head to focus on them, like he could will them hatched!

Patrushka · Post by **Patrushka** » Jun 02, 2007 12:12 am

I felt so bad. Our baby robin got blown out of the nest (or so we thought). I saw Mama feeding baby. I was torn between putting baby back in the nest and leaving well enough alone. That night it poured and I was worried about baby. Later the next day, DH found it, dead, in the same spot I had seen Mama feeding it. We looked in the bush to see if there were any other babies in the nest. There were just a few twigs left and the nest was on the ground. I guess the wind had blown the whole nest down. I know it's nature's way but it made me sad.

I hope yours hatch and thrive.

wishiwere · Post by **wishiwere** » Jun 02, 2007 1:19 pm

Well, she's been really on the nest more than off today and is being really neurotic about rearranging and poking on the nest, so I'm wondering if one is starting to bunt his/her way out or such? It's warm too, so she keeps sitting on the edge of the nest. He's been coming in also more than normal today again, so hopefully something is going to happen soon. We going to put the mini cam above them again, so we don't have to keep going in with a mirror to see if there 4 eggs yet.

Keeping our fingers crossed.