Baby Robins - Day 3

Well, as of right now (2:40 pm), we still have only 3 babies hatched... and their parents are doing a wonderful job taking care of them.

It's been very cool to see how the parent robins really seem to be getting comfortable with us taking such interest in them. Actually, the mother robin has been pretty OK with us for awhile. This morning, while I was taking the above picture of her babies, she returned and sat patiently on a higher branch of the tree and waited for me to finish. I (of course) took the opportunity to get a quick photo of her as well. She was amazingly calm and collected... even with breakfast waiting in her beak!!

THE FATHER BIRD, on the other hand, has taken a little longer to be OK with us being around. I can't complain... he's doing a great job as a father protecting what is his. If you've seen any of the video's I've posted before, you might have noticed some pretty firm chirping in the background. Those warnings were coming from Dad. :) However, yesterday evening I wanted to check on the nest because we had had some pretty good rain showers. Dad stayed on his usual post on our roof above the tree and simply watched me. Oh, he watched me very closely, no doubt,... but I didn't get the usual warnings I've become used to. I like to think that after watching us for the past 2 weeks, he's seeing that we are posing no threat to his family.

As I said, we had received some pretty good rain showers yesterday, and at least a drizzle most of the day. Mother bird did another amazing job at keeping her newborns dry and warm!

Of course, Mom wasn't able to run around getting food for herself or the babies yesterday with all the rain,... so I was happy to see that Dad REALLY stepped up and made sure they had what they needed. We saw him all day flying back and forth with food. When he was at the nest, I saw him feeding some to Mom, and then she would get up briefly to share some with the babies. It was so awesome to watch!! In this first picture, you can see the back of the mother bird with her head down feeding the babies, and Dad standing watch holding more food in his beak.

In this next picture, the mother has resumed her post and Dad continues to stand guard.

Well, that's pretty much the up-date at this point. I did take a quick video of the babies this morning, but they're not too active. Just one little guy trying to get his head out from being buried in the nest... :)

Keep watching for more updates... we're still anxious for egg #4 to hatch!! :) This has been SO fun to share with all of you!

For Miss Heidi's Preschool

I was so excited to get a phone call from Miss Heidi this morning, telling me how much her preschool class enjoyed looking at the fun pictures and video's of our robin family! It's been very exciting for us as well!! Last night I had the opportunity to get another video of the baby robins while the mom was out looking for their dinner. It's a little out-of-focus because my camera seemed to be more interested in the plant below, but I think you'll still like it!!

EXCITING NEWS!!

This morning the mother robin has spent a lot of time in her nest because we had some rain last night, and I'm sure she's trying to keep her babies warm. However, around 10:30, she left to get something for them to eat, and I took a minute to get some more pictures. Guess what?? Another baby has hatched!!

I also took a little video, but they seem to be pretty sleepy this morning.

Another thing we have found interesting, is that the mother robin seems to really like having a clean nest. Just like when your mom tells you to clean your room!! We have noticed that there are no egg shells left in the nest. I did find one on the ground this morning, but that's it. Mother robin seems to be a very good (and clean) mom!

Yahoo! I Got it to Work!

OK,... this is a video I took on Leandra's Ipod this morning - she's been keeping her school teacher up-to-date with our robin family, and REALLY wanted her to see that some had hatched. How lucky was I to get this shot??!! Anyway, here is a really AWESOME video of a very HUNGRY baby bird! Enjoy!!

I wasn't sure I'd be able to figure out how to copy this video off of Leandra's Ipod.... I am so smart! (Yea, sure!) Anyway, more to come later!

Happy Birthday!!

I am SO glad I had time to share our bird story and pictures yesterday. Did you know that Kendra is psychic?? Well, maybe you remember that I mentioned Kendra had marked 5/17 on her calendar for the eggs to hatch??

She was RIGHT!!! I notice the Mama robin was away for a minute this morning, and went out to take a quick picture of the eggs for the blog. When I got back to the porch to look at the picture I'd taken, this is what I saw:

AHHH!!! I was SO excited! I came into the house to show all the kids, because I hadn't even taken them to school yet! I've taken a couple more pictures and video's below for you to see. I'm SURE there will be more to add later this evening!!

Mama robin feeding her babies:

New baby robins wiggling in their nest:

Mama robin feeding her babies and keeping them warm:

More Robin News...

Our Mama robin has been spending a lot more time in her nest lately (taking fewer breaks), and DAD has been hanging around making sure all is well! The first few days, He sure let us know when he thought we were getting too close! On Sunday, the 9th, I was out with the kids while they gave Raider a bath, and when I tried to get a picture of the nest, I seriously got yelled at! :) So, I decided to step back and take a picture of Dad instead!

The next day (Monday, May 10th), we had some pretty good rain showers in the morning. I was so excited to get this picture of Mama robin! Look how she spreads her wings over the next to keep the eggs dry. You can see the raindrops sitting on her back before rolling off without ever getting close to the eggs! It's amazing!

Later that day, Dad seemed to be a bit less worried about me, although he made sure to stay close. I didn't even get yelled at for being in my front yard! Instead, he just made sure he kept his eye on me.
Every once in awhile, Mama still needs to stretch her legs (I guess,) and we see her standing on the edge of the nest. I wonder if she's also making sure the eggs stay the right temperature (without getting too warm). This whole experience has been so fun!

Yesterday, (after FINALLY finishing all the costumes I've been sewing - I'll post about that later) we finally had the chance to attend to some MUCH needed yard work. We were interested to see how the birds would take to us getting the lawn mower out, and using it right under her tree. We were impressed to see that none of the work seemed to phase them... not even Daddy robin!! After the lawn mower, I even weeded all of the garden right under the tree, and she didn't even flinch. Well, if she did, there was no evidence given!

It's neat that they seem so comfortable here. It's like they know we're not a threat. This is so cool!

LOTS of catching up!!

I am FINALLY able to sit down and share something REALLY COOL that's been happening at our home for the past week and a half. At the beginning, I didn't have a camera other than the one in my cell phone (my Minolta somehow met it's doom at an indoor soccer game this winter), so the pics leave a lot to be desired. However, after receiving our tax refund, I was able to purchase a replacement camera which I LOVE! OK, it's not like Alli's or Kevin's, but I'm just a simple point-and-shoot kinda gal! Anyway... get ready for some pictures!

On Monday, May 3rd, after dropping the kids off at school, I came home and noticed a birds nest in the tree in front of our house! I guess the bird must have built it pretty quickly over the weekend, because it seemed to just appear out of nowhere! There was no bird in it, so I carefully looked inside and found it beautiful, but empty. I was hoping that we might have a little better luck this year, since we had a bird nest in another tree of ours last year, but it wasn't very secure, and the bird abandoned it before laying any eggs in it. Later that day, I took another quick look inside the nest and was thrilled to see a single beautiful blue egg resting inside! When the kids came home from school, I pointed it out to them, but made sure to also warn them to STAY AWAY from it. I really didn't want to spook this bird away from her nest.

5-3-10... Afternoon... 2 eggs! We're so excited our Mama robin has decided to make this nest a home for her eggs!

5-3-10... Evening... 3 eggs! We now have as many eggs as the nest I was reading about on-line!

5-4-10... 4 eggs!! We're getting SO excited! (Lee took this picture with his phone camera... Obviously MUCH better than mine! Thanks, Lee!)

5-5-10... Morning... Still 4 eggs. She MUST be done. How will any more baby birds possibly fit into this nest??

5-5-10... Afternoon... 5 eggs!! Can you believe this?? Mama robin is amazing!

5-6-10... 5 eggs. We love to see how she keeps moving them around!

5-7-10... Still 5 eggs. Looks like she's finally done!

5-9-10... Proud Mama robin taking great care of her eggs! (LOVE my new camera!!)

After finding the first egg, I found a web-site on-line that detailed a robin's nest from 1st egg, to baby birds leaving the nest. I learned that the eggs usually hatch around 14 days after the last egg was laid. Kendra originally marked 5-17 on her calendar with "Baby Birds!", but it may be later this week. Either way, we are getting VERY excited! Now that I finally have a camera, I am going to keep posting regularly through the end!

(If you're interested, the site I found was www.i-pets.com/rpet19.html)

BEST Book Club Report...EVER!!