Second Brood in Nest

by Jenny Weaver
(Bainbridge Island, Washington)

After listening to a robin bang into my bedroom window for a month, my family was delighted when she finally made a nest in the rhododendron only four feet from the window.

With a mirror we saw her three eggs, and loved every minute of watching her and her mate tend the babies.

All three little robins made it out of the nest right on schedule.

There was a crow that was watching the nest and tried to attack the fledglings as they left the nest, but the parents were very brave and successful at keeping it away, as far as I could tell.

I have three small children who loved those robins.

It has only been two and a half weeks since the three baby robins left the nest, and the mother robin is back on the original nest!

While she was off today for a few hours, I peeked into the nest with my handheld mirror, and there are two new eggs.

I had not thought that she would use the same nest.

She did add some new dried grass, but otherwise the nest is exactly the same one she used for her first brood.

My kids shrieked with delight when I told them, although my husband groaned.

He had been ready for the babies to leave the nest so we could have our bedroom window open again!

Robin Eggs and Easter

by Celine Fortenberry
(Charlotte, NC)

So just this Easter, April 4, 2010, my husband and I were hiding eggs for the kids to hunt and find.

We have two Bradford Pear trees in our front yard, we usually place the eggs in nooks and crannies of the trees along with all over the entire front and back yard.

As I looked into one tree, I noticed feathers and at first I thought some bird lost their feathers!

I started to reach and grab, but then hesitated and boy, I was glad that I did!

I walked around the tree and to my surprise I was looking face to beak at a beautiful Robin sitting in a nest.

I told my husband and kids that the tree was off limits.

I grabbed the Nikon to snap some photos, the Robin flew away and I was able to take a couple of shots of the beautiful blue eggs.

I am so excited that she is there.

I don't get too close and just walk in yard casually to make sure she is still there.

I don't want the nest to get abandoned as I have heard that happens sometimes also. Hopefully she will not.

We have a bird feeder in the front yard and a bird bath in the back yard, so I am hoping they are happy there.

We don't use chemicals in the yard due to our kids run around a lot outside and thinks this is good for nature also.

Oh, to treasure life!

Homemade Robin Nest

by Steve
(Lewiston, Mn)

By accident a robin family built a nest out our back deck just in the crotch of our downspout.

Every day and evening we would go in and out and the robins would just stay there in their nest. They seemed to get used to us going in and out all the time.

I got the idea to build a nesting shelf like the one pictured above with a platform and sides and a roof.

I then hooked this into place by an outside window and guess what the robins did. They built their nest on top of the nesting shelf I built for them.

Indeed they were still under the eave of the house so they were dry but the nesting shelf is built on an angle and they built their nest so that it would be level, so they are quite the engineers too.

I read that if you supply water (bird bath) and some fruit that they may build in the area, so that is exactly what I did.

I supplied all this on my deck and sure enough after a one year layoff they came back.

It is fun watching them. I wasn't sure if she laid her eggs or not so I got my smart phone and took a picture because the top of the nest is only inch's from an eave.

To my surprise there were 3 little one's inside the nest so I quickly departed and the parents seem to not mind us at all.

I have been watching the Decorah Eagles on the internet but these Robins are fun to watch especially since they are feeding them so much now.

I'm beginning to wonder if one of the parents has met it's match since it seems like only one is feeding them now. Maybe I just can't tell them apart.

My First Experience With Robins

by Katherine
(Wisconsin)

I have always loved birds. When I was an infant my mother would put me in front of our picture window to watch the bird feeders outside.

She said I would immediately stop fussing and watch for hours.

I had the experience of bird sitting for a friend. She had two Doves that happened to have three babies while I was watching them.

However, I just had my first experience with a pair of Robins in my backyard.

They built their nest next to my house in my climbing clematis of all things. My cats banished inside since I happened upon the nest!

It was amazing. I seemed to gain the trust of the parents and was allowed to sit and watch the nest of eggs when they went out for food.

I was even allowed to come over and "meet" the babies when they were just hatched. No touching of course!

Today, the babies took their first flight. They went over to the bird feeders and explored the water fountain.

They were hesitant, but mommy was right there and let me sit quietly to watch it all.

The cutest part was when one of the babies glided to the roof. Mommy bird made all sorts of chirping noises that I could just tell was "come down, that's too high!"

What happened next was what was great.

I swear the mommy bird looked right at me, and this may sound crazy but I felt like she was saying "watch over my other baby at the bird feeder while I go rescue the one off the roof."

I know what you're thinking, she was probably just making sure I wouldn't hurt her baby while she went up there.

But after the two came back down and she deposited them both by the bird feeder, she flew over to the table I was sitting at and perched a little ways away from me for a few seconds, then flew back to her babies.

This may seem like a simple, silly, story but after may years of loving birds this was my first real experience, and it was awe inspiring.

Baby Robins Nest Above Our Front Door

by Patti
(South Lyon, MI)

Robins built a nest on the tiny ledge over our front door, right in front of a glass window above the door.

Gave us a birds eye view! We so enjoyed watching them.

The first two clutches were not successful. One was attacked by a predatory bird, the second nest fell off the ledge and the babies died.

Third time was a charm ( with help from a cardboard platform my husband stapled to widen the ledge). This clutch was a success, and two of the three babies left the nest today.

We will miss them.

Flocks of Robins Everyday 5 pm

by M. Adams
(Yardley, PA)

I am fascinated by all the robins that congregate on the roof of my potting shed and then take off and head to a tree that has lots of ivy and I am sure several nests.

My new puppy is looking up at them and when they take off....he comes running to the door, he seems frightened.

This is the first winter I have noticed them, although I have seen robins in the winter before.

I just haven't noticed so many together....flying back and forth for an hour or so.....back and forth from the roof top to the tree.

Because this has been such a freezing winter, they might have more nests built closer together ...to stay warm together....I am not kidding when I say there are about 30 - 40 robins that gather.

I do feed the birds, but don't know what to feed the robins....maybe raisins?

Deluxe Apartment in the Sky

by Patti Boyle
(Plano, TX)

Robins have built a nest on our garage door opener. Because we don't want to disturb them, we are parking on the street until breeding season is over.

Doves nested there two years ago, but the robin nest is much more substantial. We enjoy watching them and look forward to the sounds of their babies.

Bird Condo

by Sibyl Lyons
(Beaverton, Michigan)

I live in an apartment in a small town and always enjoyed watching the birds. One day sitting on my patio a female Robin kept coming in front of me with nesting material.

I left for a walk in the woods and when I came back I saw her on top of a fake birdhouse on my neighbors air conditioner.

It was wonderful watching her, and she got quite use to me sitting not 6 feet from her nest.

Sometimes I think she even used me to babysit. She had 3 babies and I watched them all leave the nest in good health.

That was last year and this year she is back and I will soon know how many she has. I am thrilled to be their adoptive grandma. So glad she found a safe place.

I hope to get better pictures this year because she seems to remember me and is not worried by my presence. She is a wonderful gift from God.

Feeding and Fecal Sac Removal

by Hannah Chandler
(Centerville, Tennessee)

I've got a robin family living on the back of my house, in the corner of a gutter and the brick wall.

I first found the nest with 4 eggs in it, and they were beautiful.

The next day I went back to see if there were any more eggs, and found that two had hatched already! They were beautiful.

The next couple times I checked on the nest, mama was guarding it protectively, like a good mama.

When I found it with her away again, all 4 babies had hatched, and as ugly as they are cute.

A couple days later I did a walk around the yard to try to get mama more comfortable with my presence, and took some pictures of her in the nest.

Suddenly I noticed I wasn't just seeing mama, but one of the babies had his head propped up on the edge of the nest, and seemed to be cuddling mama.

I went out later that evening and mama was away from the nest, so I sat down along the wall, about 10 feet away from the nest, and waited for her to return, hoping that she could continue to get more comfortable with my presence.

To my surprise she came back to the nest with a worm!

I took pictures excitedly as she fed the fledglings the worm, and watched her take a fecal sac from one of the babies.

I think she ate it because she didn't fly away. At the time I didn't know it was a fecal sac, I thought she was regurgitating more food.

When I looked up more info on robins and nesting habits and learned about the fecal sac I was shocked; I saw that, and got a picture of it!

The next day mama fed with me watching again.

She seems to be getting used to my presence, and I'm being as unobtrusive as possible so that she continues to grace me with her presence and the gift of experiencing her babies grow.

I noticed that at least one of the babies has opened it's eyes (6 days old if it's the first 1-2 that hatched).

I've never had the opportunity to witness something like this first hand, so I'm so excited that she has accepted my intrusion.

Robin Nest in a Rooster Pot

by Phil Kurtz
(Lamar, MO USA)

A mother robin built a nest in our plant pot that looks like a rooster on our back porch and raised four babies. Neat and fun to watch.

Robin Condo

by Terry Wall
(BCAA Canada)

We have just noticed today that a young female Robin has been very busy indeed.

I was walking past the lower part of our deck and I noticed a series of grass piles hanging out over the beam! What is this?

On closer inspection it was obvious they were nests in varying stages of progress.

From left to right, the left most nest had the most development, and gradually down to the right, which was little more than a half inch scrounge pile of dry grass.

I put my cell phone camera onto video mode and without touching a hair, I reached up over a couple of nests to show what was inside.

Turns out they are already at the layer of mud stage. A sweet little well constructed circle of mud. Well-done, momma!

I intend to check them again in a few days in the late afternoon.

Hopefully she will pick one of the nests to lay her beautiful blue eggs.

Meanwhile, we will keep our dog and grandkids in the front of the house.

This is the first time I have had birds nesting so close to where I live, let alone right on the house.

I really hope it's a success.

A friend of mine gets a Robin nest often, but many times the eggs were taken by crows or magpies.

That nest is quite exposed on top of a step ladder on her deck.

The place the nests are under my deck is hopefully safe front large birds. Wish us luck!

Newborn Baby Robins!

by Rochelle Backer
(Arlington, TN, USA)

I live in Arlington, TN and a couple of weeks ago, I noticed a nest in one of our trees.

I hadn't noticed much activity in the nest so, I left it alone.

Today, I checked the nest and there were two baby birds poking their heads up!

They are brand new babies because their eyes aren't even open yet!

I went in the house and grabbed my camera. I was able to get a few really good pics to help identify them.

I wasn't sure what kind of birds they were at first and then the Momma showed up to feed them!

I'm happy to announce that we have baby Robins! I'm not sure how many there are in the nest. I only saw two little heads today. But, I'll be watching them and will have more to report.

I'm very excited about this new family of birds in our yard! It will be fun to watch them and see how they grow!

Cute Robin

by Astrid
(Orillia, Ontario )

Robins Nested in Fern Plant

One day I bought a fern plant, and then 2 days later my daughter says hey mom a Robin is building it's nest it it, so It was really nice for my daughter to see all the stages, and it's about 12 days old.

Robin's Nest-Cute Spot!

by Kimberly Sturgis
(Muskegon Michigan USA)

On March 30th our family noticed a beautiful Robin's nest just outside our kitchen window and thrilled us all!

The most ironic part about her location is that our kitchen is not only used for nightly dinners, but also card playing.

Every single night at 6:30pm is dinner, followed by 2 hours of laughter and card playing.

So this momma bird chose a very noisy place to have her babies.

Our home consists of three generations of women. Grandma is 90yrs old, Mom is 65yrs old, and I am 40yrs old.

Maybe this momma bird saw how considerate we are towards one another and realized we would never hurt her. Did I mention how thrilled we are?

Living in Michigan, we've seen Robin's trotting through our tiny yard but nothing this exciting.

We're hoping the squirrel that roams our yard and tree's doesn't disturb this little family.

The nest is built on top of a black wrought iron stand that's mostly used for decoration and trailing flowers to grow on.

It has a flat top, swirly accents, and is located in the small pathway to our portable garbage bin.

This is the going to be a very exciting spring, one that will be remembered forever.

We're looking forward to learning more about these beautiful birds in their own habitat, not to mention, we'll have the perfect view.

It's moments like this that make people enthusiastic to learn about something we've seen for years, yet never really appreciated how fortunate we are having such brilliant creatures share our yards.

Nesting!

by Colleen
(Columbus, Oh)

These robins decided that inside our covered porch above the door was a great place to nest.

Although I find it a little inconvenient just because I am more careful than ever around the porch its probably a perfect spot for the nest!

Blocks from wind and rain and gives the parents easy access.

I have enjoyed watching the parent birds hopping around the yards and sitting in the trees watching from a distance.

I also get to enjoy watching these birds nest, hatch, and be raised with my 3 kids.

We can just sit at our back door and watch nature do its work, its rather beautiful.

Anyway I attached a couple pictures I got of the babies, this is personally the closest I have ever been to them, I just had to see what inside the nest looked like because I'm always looking at them from the bottom!