May 23, 2008 - 2 babies that didn't make it

I can pretty much confirm now that Lucy's fourth hatchling didn't make it. I don't know what happened to it, but I do know that I haven't seen it since the day it was born. There is hardly any room left in the nest for the three of them, I can't imagine what it would have been like with four. It is business as usual with Lucy and Ricky; constantly foraging and feeding. The babies literally grow overnight, it is amazing.

I haven't seen much of Big Mama and Big Daddy. I did see them both foraging together for a brief time but that was it; no sign of Robbie and Roxy. I'm always looking for them though, I hope I get to see them at some point. Big Daddy still guards the nest, he ran another Robin out of his territory just like he used to when the babies were nesting. It's hard to believe that Mama is most likely laying eggs in another nest by now. I checked the empty nest today and the unhatched egg is still there. Looks like it got pushed into the very bottom of the nest.

May 4, 2008 - Quaduplets and Hawks

Lucy laid another egg today!!

She seemed really tired and kept leaving the nest to refuel so I figured she wasn't done yet! I wonder if this will be it for her. I kind of hope so, I can't imagine how hard it will be to take care of four babies!

There was lots of drama in the front yard today. A pair of Grackle's came into the yard and neither bird seemed worried. But the fathers were; I could hear them both warning the mothers but I wasn't sure why. The Grackles quickly took off. Sure enough, about a minute later I see three Red Tailed Hawk's circling! Both Mom's appeared pretty nervous and got really low in their nest's. The Dad's were hiding in their tree's squawking away. After about 10 minutes, it seemed that the coast was clear and things quieted down.

Grackle intruders

Red Tailed Hawk

Both of the Mom's decided to forage in the yard. Lucy and Big Mama had a little scuffle but nothing major. Lucy seems to hold her own against Big Mama now. Big Mama conceded and went to her side of the yard. (I wonder if things will remain this civil when they are competing for food to feed their babies) Within a few minutes the Dad's sounded their alarms again and the birds scattered. Lucy went into a tree and Big Mama hid under some pines. I saw a lone Hawk circling the tree above Lucy. She was anxious to get back to her nest but had to stay their for her own safety. After a few minutes she quickly flew into the nest and Big Mama made her way back to hers. Hopefully the afternoon will be a lot quieter for these hard working Mom's!

A showdown between the Mom's

(Lucy on Left, Mama on Right)

Lucy waiting for the Hawk to pass

Lucy quickly flying back to her nest

May 2, 2008 - More eggs, more fights.

Lucy laid another egg today:

She also had to defend her eggs pretty aggressively today. Lucy and Ricky were out foraging for worms when a Starling came into their territory. Lucy was on the lawn and Ricky was watching her from a tree branch. This Starling was looking for food VERY close to the holly tree. Starlings are very aggressive birds and will even kick a bird out of their own nests and take over. They are such menaces that they are listed on the USDA list of Invasive Species.

Lucy went right after the Starling. Ricky jumped down from the tree to be by her side but did not participate in the fight. The Starling charged Lucy but she fought back. They were fighting in the air with their feet. It was pretty exciting to watch!! It all happened very fast and I wasn't able to get a good picture of it. Luckily, Lucy won and the Starling left, no thanks to Ricky! At one point he turned his back on the fight. I guess he wanted to make sure no other predators were around.

Going after the Starling

It's on now!

After the fight a Mourning Dove came into the territory. Mourning Doves are pretty docile and Lucy didn't seem all that threatened but thought it best to go back to her nest, just in case. Before she jumped in the nest she looked right up at me through the window. I don't think she was posing for the camera but the picture sure did come out great!

Here she is turning her eggs before sitting on them.

May 3, 2008 - Another Day, another egg!

The young Mom (I'm naming her Lucy - since she seems kind of goofy and I love Lucille Ball. The Dad will be Ricky, natch) laid another egg today.



She pretty much left her first egg alone all day yesterday. She covered it up with some twigs and left. She did come back at dusk and spent her first night in the nest. I have read that the Mother can let the first eggs cool a lot more than subsequent eggs. If she didn't, they would all hatch at different times. They lay one egg a day but she won't start the incubation process until her last egg is laid. That way one egg will hatch per day, in the order that they were laid.

Last night I was lucky enough to see her in her nest for the first time. She didn't seem to know what to do. She was jumping around on the edge of the nest looking at the egg inside. She seemed pretty confused and just took off. Comparing the two birds definitely tells me that Lucy is young and has never done this before. I hope that she does ok with her first brood.

Tonight, I scared her off when I pulled into the driveway and she hasn't been back since. But it is 5 PM and both nests are empty. From what I can tell from watching Big Mama - thinking of renaming her Ethel ;) - 5 PM is usually dinner time.

May 1, 2008 - More eggs!

This morning I checked the nests and Big Mama was pretty much status quo. Sitting on her eggs, rotating every hour or so, counterclockwise. When I went out to pick up Jonnie from school there was a male robin in the tree in front of me. He started giving out a warning chirp which I thought was strange. I walked to the car and noticed that the little Robin was in her nest. She wasn't building or rearranging the grasses, she was just sitting there. It looked to me that she was laying an egg. When I came back, she wasn't in her nest and I found this:

I read that Robin's usually lay 3-4 eggs in a clutch. I wonder how many she will have?!

This is her looking much more plump than the first time I ever saw her. This is yesterday, the day before she laid her first egg:

Here is Big Mama caring for her eggs: She knows I am there looking at her and she is definitely keeping an eye on me but she doesn't seem too afraid of me now. Her eggs should be hatching in a week and a half or so, can't wait!!

April 27, 2008 - Under construction and laying eggs

Now that I am aware of the two nests in the front yard, I'm trying to figure out who is shacking up in our holly trees. I was able to find and watch the pair that were still in the nest building phase. She looks very young; I figure she was probably born around this time last year, so this is probably her first time building a nest. The coloring on her breast is very pale and splotchy and she is kind of scrawny; hard to believe there are eggs in her little body somewhere! The male is a typical male Robin Red-Breast. He seems to guard her very well, always standing at attention nearby. He chirps at her at any sign of danger as she picks away at the grass to build her nest.

So far it looks like she has the straw base and the layer of mud down. From the little I know about nests, I believe she has to do a fine grass layer next and the nest will be complete. She is very busy pulling up thatch to build the middle layer, her nest seems to be a lot more complex compared to the other Robin's nest. I think the Dad has the best job of all, keeping one eye on the Mom as she searches high and low for decent thatch; while keeping his other eye on the fat earth worm coming out of the ground!

Here she is with thatch for her nest!

Here's the Dad guarding his mate.

I checked on the other nest on and off during the day. I try to do this mostly from my bedroom window since I don't want to disturb the Mom and risk her getting spooked and leaving her nest. It seems like she leaves the nest at very infrequent, small increments. When I caught her out trying to refuel, I saw that she had laid another egg! This makes three total.

April 26, 2008 - There's another one!!

After we finished landscaping one side of the yard, we went over to the other side and found ANOTHER nest in the other holly tree!! This nest looked much sturdier, pretty much finished, so I looked inside. There was one beautiful blue egg!! I knew we had to get out of there quickly so the Mom could come back and keep the eggs warm so we did our work quickly and got out of there.

A few hours later, I wanted to show Claire the nest and when we looked in, there was another egg! Pretty exciting for a bird lover to see. This holly tree is directly under our bedroom window. You can't see directly inside since it is a little higher up in the tree and she camouflaged it a little better. But good enough for me! You can still see the eggs pretty well from inside of our house.

Before bed I wanted to check to see if there was a parent tending to the eggs since I hadn't seen any birds near the active nest. So I quickly put a flashlight beam on the nest and sure enough, there was the Mom, sitting on the nest! I was so glad because I know how easily birds can abandon nest's if they feel threatened.