Baby Robins - Day 7 - We Learn Something New!

Today I really want to thank everyone for keeping up with us and our little robin family. It makes me feel good to know that I'm not completely crazy for getting so excited about this! Anyway, here's a quick look at how our babies have developed today:

I still can't believe how much they've changed in the last couple of days. We DID learn something new about robins today. Watch closely to the mother after she finishes feeding her babies the food she has brought:



Did you miss it?? I did the first time.... UNTIL I took this video:



My kids thought for SURE that Dallin & Jaden would enjoy this one... Sorry, Heidi! Nevertheless, this pretty much grossed us out. So, I did some google-ing, and learned something. On average, baby birds stay in their nests for 13 days. So, if you multiply 13 days x 3 birds x 356 insects and worms on average each day -- that's A LOT of poop! Obviously, there are no little "birdie diapers" that the mother & father robin can fly over to Wal-mart to get. So, Heavenly Father (in his infinite wisdom) gave them another way to dispose of their baby "poop." Although it LOOKS like mother robin is eating the poop (yuck!) she actually isn't. The babies poop comes out in a strong "bag" so their parents can carry it away. The bag is made of a thick, strong mucus that the parents can pick up with their sharp beaks and carry away without puncturing it. This "fecal sac" (containing the brown fecal matter from the birds intestines, and the white urine) is basically a disposable diaper for birds! Heavenly Father is truly amazing, isn't He?? As we saw, the babies pretty much poop as soon as they eat, which ensures there is a parent there to take the sac away. As the owner of their nest tree, I was also VERY happy to learn that the parent robins generally fly 20-50 yards away before dropping the sac in flight. I wonder if I should apologize to any of my neighbors living 20-50 yards away?! :)


I did get another quick video of feeding time, and thought it would be fun to share. This time, I was able to catch the mother with her beak full, waiting for the babies to notice she was there. I DID try to end the video before the "sac" was obtained, however my trigger finger was just a BIT too slow. Sorry! But, hey... at least we learned something new today, right?? Talk to you again tomorrow!!