Baby Robins Day 13

Baby Number 1 out of the nest. Well, actually I think this was Baby Number 2. This all happened so fast that somewhere along the line I lost track of one of the babies. I thought they might start to gradually step out of the nest to test their wings, but not these babies. Once they got out of the nest they never went back. That's why I think the first baby got away before I even saw it. So, here we have one baby out and the other one staying safe inside. This little guy sat on that branch for several hours. Oh, he was pretty shaky and almost fell off a few times. I think what made him mad though is that when Mom came back with food he never got any. Only the baby on the nest was fed. He squawked about that and finally started hopping around like he was going to go back into the nest.

Here is Mom. She sat and encouraged those babies to get a move on, or she was telling them to get back into the nest. I really don't understand Robin talk. One thing I did notice is that they were cleaning their feathers practically every time I looked at them. Must have been getting ready to fly.
As it turned out Mom must have been telling them to get out of the nest and explore. This little guy had waited all day and finally out he came. It wasn't long before he had even left the tree and was in a bush next to it. Next time I looked they were both completely gone. So much for my theory about them hanging around the nest for a few days. Since this all happened so quickly I am thinking that the 3rd baby must have left the nest sometime when I wasn't looking.

Baby Robins Day 9

Sad news about the babies today. I noticed only 3 of them in the nest when I looked out the window. I made sure the mom was gone and went out to investigate and found one of the babies on the ground dead. I have no way of knowing if it fell out or died and was pushed out. I can tell you the nest is pretty small to hold all of them. I was watching them today and one of the babies had it's foot on the edge of the nest and had lifted itself up and was flapping it's wings. I thought for sure it was going to fall out. I hope they learn to fly soon! I'm probably worrying about these babies more than the mom is. As you can see in the picture they want food and are keeping mom busy. I see both mom and dad around sometimes. Looks like one of them should be staying home to keep their children in the nest.

Baby Robins 1 Week Old

Isn't it amazing how much the babies have  grown in just 1 week! They now have their eyes open and are getting real feathers. Oh, and I can now hear them chirping when Mom comes with food. I had thought I heard it before, but it was very faint. They now have stronger voices too.  It's fun to watch mom try and sit in the nest as there really isn't room for her. She gets a foot on each side, tries to gather the babies under her and then sort of perches on the top. She is away from the nest more and more as she is gathering food.

Baby Robins 3 Days Old

Can you believe how quickly they are growing? I often see both Mom and Dad bringing food. It looks like worms are the favorite. See how the baby in the bottom of the picture has it's beak just on the edge of the nest? I often see it leaning out further and even poking out from under Mom. Maybe it's a little more adventuresome than the rest. I wonder if it will be the first one to learn to fly?

Baby Robins 1 Day Old

All the babies have arrived in the world. I think the 4th one hatched yesterday, but I couldn't really be sure as they were all so close together. This picture is a little off center, but one of the little guys thought I had food and I wanted you to see it. At this point they are just like all babies, all they do is eat and sleep.

Newborn Baby Robins

We have babies! Well, we have 3 of them at this point. I'll keep a watch on that other egg. I hope I can get a picture of the mom feeding them. They are pretty excited when she comes around with food. I had nothing to offer them, so they just slept.

Spring

Isn't Spring amazing? New life and new growth everywhere. Well, I think it's a pretty time, but Ron seems to be playing the battle of the weeds and wildlife game. Just this morning he was trying to defend our home. We have a Towhee that seems to have adopted us. It lives on our front patio and likes to sit on the windowsills and lawn furniture. Of course it poops all over, so Ron is continually chasing him away. The deer were here drinking out of the Koi pond and don't seem to be at all afraid of coming right up to the house. Then there was the woodpecker that was pecking on the logs holding the roof over the patio. Ron was overwhelmed! I'm not sure just who the slow learner is here. The animals haven't learned that his actions are suppose to keep them away, and he hasn't learned that no matter what he does they're just going to keep coming back. However, when I look out my closet window this is the site I see. Ah, it's great to live in the country!