May 20, 2008 - Feedings and fights

It's been pretty quiet for Lucy's clan today. I still can't get over the amount of time she spends away from her nest. Even when it rains or the wind is gusting, she is nowhere to be found; Ricky isn't either. I have seen him on the nest guarding from time to time but not much. These two are much less hands on parents than Big Mama and Big Daddy are. On the other hand, they do have two more mouths to feed than Mama and Daddy do.



VIDEO!


Today Mama and Daddy had enough of the Blue Jay's. They got into a huge fight with one early this morning. It was so intense that it woke me up! I know that Mama will put up a good fight but until this morning, I had yet to see Big Daddy get his claws dirty. Today, both parents were full on brawling with this Blue Jay. They were fighting on the ground and in the air, all three of them were screaming and squawking at each other. Eventually, the pair chased the Jay into a neighbors yard. They must have been trying to hold their territory because neither of them came back for a good fifteen minutes. I was glad to see them both again, I always worry that something is going to happen to one of the parents. It seems like other birds have noticed Mama's nest. They fly by quite low, like they are checking things out. This happens several times a day now. I assume the Blue Jay got caught doing this and the fight ensued. Hopefully the Blue Jay learned his lesson!

Daddy guarding his nest from a near by branch

May 19, 2008 - Spreading their wings

Robbie and Roxy are learning to stretch and spread out their wings. They are much more active now. They will sit up and look around while waiting for their next meal. They don't make as much noise as I thought they would; I almost never hear them chirp. They are fully aware of what is going on around them now. They will look at me through the window and duck when they sense danger.

Figuring out their wings

Robbie

12 days old

The four babies seem to be doing well. The amount of work it takes to feed four babies is amazing. The parents pretty much spend their time feeding the kids from dawn to dusk. The babies don't get nearly as much incubating time as Mama's kid's did. It has been rainy and cold too; I would have thought they would need their Mom to incubate them more than food but thats not what Lucy has been doing. The babies also seem to take turns with who gets to go on the bottom of the pile, which, I imagine is the prime spot in this cold weather. I always feel bad when the little one gets stuck on top and is shivering.

May 18, 2008 - All four eggs have hatched!

Unlike Mama, all of Lucy's eggs hatched successfully. The newest baby is the one on the top, right.

Happy Birthday!

Robbie and Roxy are near impossible to photograph. They blend in so well with the nest that my camera just can't seem to focus on them clearly. They also duck down very low when they sense that I am near, which makes it even harder. Their eyes are fully open now, they have looked at me a few times. They have tons of feathers now! It's hard to believe that they will probably be on their own by Memorial day.

The best picture I have gotten in days:

11 days old

May 17, 2008 - Lucy feeding the babies

May 16, 2008 - Now a Mom of three

Another new addition to Lucy's family!

Happy Birthday!

Lucy's a busy Mom feeding three babies. I did see Ricky this morning trying to help but Lucy still does the bulk of the work. I've been able to see her feed them quite a few times now but it hasn't been light enough for pictures. I still haven't figured out how they decide who gets fed first. It seems like both mothers definitely have their favorites.

I haven't been able to take any decent pictures of Robbie or Roxy the past few days. They have lots of feathers now and the colors of the feathers blend in perfectly with the nest. This camouflage is good because they spend 75% of their time alone in the nest now. Mama did spend more time with her kids today because it was rainy and she had to cover them up. Besides today, she has pretty much been MIA. She spends the bulk of her time across the street in our neighbor's yard. She does come back to feed her babe's but basically, she is gone. I'm guessing she is already working on her new nest. Robin's don't typically reuse nests which is a real bummer for me. I would love to see them through the summer but I doubt that will happen. However, I will leave their nests there in case they change their minds!

I do worry about little Roxy. I check every morning to make sure she is still o.k. She is quite a bit smaller than her brother and the parents absolutely favor Robbie over Roxy; he gets the food the majority of the time. Today I didn't see her lift her head for food, which is a first. But I was also gone most of the day so hopefully she is just full.

I noticed a new job that Big Daddy is responsible for: cleaning out the nest. I would see him pecking around the bottom of the nest sometimes. At times he would actually peck his kids! I had no idea what he was doing until I saw him eating whatever was at the bottom of the nest. Then I read that baby Robin's poo immediately after they eat; so I put two and two together. Not a job I would want! :)

May 15, 2008 - Lucy's a Mom!!!!

TWO babies were born this morning. Again, I missed the hatching which is a bummer, I hope to catch at least one being born. Lucy is much less wary of me so she fed her babies while I was watching! Didn't get a clear picture of it but it was cool to see. These two are really cute! They are constantly moving around and lifting their mouths up for food. They both seem about the same size but one is much stronger than the other. Many times the stronger bird will sit on the other ones head! The poor thing struggles to get out for what seems like forever. Eventually, he/she finds it's way up to get some air!

Happy Birthday!!

Lucy feeding her new babies.

The closest thing I may get to see in the hatching process is this hole in one of the eggs. It looks like that baby is trying to stick her wing in the egg!

AWWWWWWWW!!

May 12, 2008 - What a difference a day makes!

It's COLD and WINDY out today; so different from the sunny warm day we had yesterday. Lucy is not having fun today. She hasn't been able to take off and find food like she is used to. I haven't seen her leave the nest at all today. She is all puffed up trying to keep her eggs and herself warm. I even caught her sleeping this morning:



I caught a quick glimpse of the babies today. Mama was screeching for Big Daddy so I made it really quick; I wasn't able to confirm that there is a third baby. The babies look SO different now! I am thinking that the black coloring is either bone or cartilage under the skin. It looks like the line on their eyelids has opened a bit more, I bet they will open their eyes soon! I could also see the beginnings of their wing feathers. Their down looks longer and fluffier but they are still quite naked.

4 DAYS OLD

ETA: Just saw the third egg in the nest. I have a feeling it's just not going to hatch. It just keeps moving around the nest. At this point, it would probably be best if it didn't hatch.

May 10, 2008 - A milestone already!

These hatching's are growing fast! They have a little bit more fluff, their skin is less red and they seem to be moving a bit more. Today, they graduated from regurgitated food to small worms and grubs. I'm sure Mama is relieved about that! She has been working hard at keeping the babies fed and the regurgitation did not look comfortable. I have only seen Big Daddy feed them once, so he hasn't been much help in that area. The third egg still hasn't hatched. Tomorrow is it's "due date" so hopefully it will hatch on time. If not, I'm afraid it might be too small and young to compete with it's siblings who have already moved up to solid foods.

Big Mama with a mouth full of food for her babies.

I have yet to clearly see her feed the babies, never mind photograph it. I caught her a few times in the middle of feeding but wasn't able to see through the holly leaves. Mama is very leery of me and my camera now that the babies have hatched. If she is gathering food, she just doesn't want to come back to her nest when my big head and camera are in the window watching her. I eventually have to leave so her poor kids don't go hungry.

I hope I can photograph the feeding more when Lucy's kids arrive. Although, she spends a ton of time away from her nest so I don't know how successful this clutch is going to be. Luckily the rain stopped and it warmed up a bit. Hopefully this kept her eggs warm while she was gone.

Quite a few people have told me I should name the babies. Any suggestions? Leave a comment with your ideas here.

May 8, 2008 - HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Big Mama got not one but TWO surprises today!!




I was watching her this afternoon and I noticed that she was digging around in her nest a lot more than usual. I had a feeling one of the eggs might be ready to hatch. The Starling's came back into Big Daddy's territory and Mama looked fierce! She was ready to take them on if they messed with her. She never left her nest to defend it though. This was different behavior than usual since she normally chases the intruders out herself. I checked back a few hours later to find Mama gone and two little baby Robin's opening their mouths waiting for food!

They are pretty amazing to watch. They will both stretch up their necks and open their mouths as wide as they can for a few seconds. Then they both collapse and get their strength back up. They aren't able to lift their heads again for at least 5 minutes. Right now they make absolutely no sound; not even when they open their mouths to be fed. One is smaller than the other. This is probably the one that hatched 2 days too early. You can already see their animal instincts kick in. As soon as one lifts it's head and opens wide for food, the other one does soon afterwards. Darwin's theory comes into play and they aren't even a day old!

Snuggling up to their unborn sibling.

Opening wide...

Then collapsing for a rest.

VIDEO!!!!