Growing up in a hurry -

Growing up in a hurry -
Young robins are out of the nest in a couple of days

Two weeks ago I saw a nest sitting on the window sill  on the second floor of our house.  A robin's nest is easily recognized because long grass strands are hanging down from the nest and swing in the wind. 

The robin was sitting on the nest whenever I left the house, but would fly away whenever it saw me. A week ago, I looked through the window to see whether I could take a picture of the eggs, but I saw this:

Four little robins were in the nest and the mother was sitting on a nearby wire waiting to feed them.

On day two after I first saw them, it was amazing how much the four had grown already and demanded food when the mother was approaching: By their appearance, I could judge that they had hatched within the week.. The mother will build the nest by herself and then brood the eggs for about 2 weeks until they hatch. Born naked, their eyes will remain closed for the first few days, and they will quickly develop their first feathers. Within 2 weeks of hatching, they will be fledged (develop wing feathers sturdy enough to start to learn to fly) and begin to leave the nest.

​Only the mother broods the eggs, but after they hatch, both parents feed them with small invertebrates (worms, grubs, insects, etc), and each will keep the nest clean by removing the white globs of waste the chicks produce. 

I caught the mother sitting on the nest with this video. She obviously saw me but was not sure whether I was a threat. Although hard to visually sex them by their plumage alone, it is generally true that the females tend to be somewhat duller in the red of their breasts. According to Native American lore, the robin got its red breast from fanning the dying embers of a campfire to save a father and his son. 

The chicks will signal their new deposits shortly after they swallow a meal, by cocking their tails feathers with a quiver, and it will quickly be removed. In this video, you can see this happening. After the mother arrives with an insect and feeds one of the chicks, moments later the chick makes his deposit and the father arrives and quickly removes it by swallowing it. The whole time I watched them, the waste was never left for more than a few moments in the nest. The next day I caught this amazing feeding and cleaning procedure:

 To my surprise I found only three little robins in the nest on day four after I first found them. The largest of the four had already left the nest.

Later in day four, more robins flew away and only the little one was left.

And then - on day five - the nest was empty! You can see how the female had created the nest using woven strands of long grasses, mortar made from mud and a soft layer of finer grasses for bedding. You may find fallen nests to be bedded with a variety of soft materials from the surroundings- including feathers. (Hence the saying 'feathering one's nest'). But, despite all the effort,  she will not reuse this nest. She may have 2-3 broods each season, but will make a new home each time. With this rate of reproduction, it is not surprising that it is one of the most common birds in North America, ranging from Mexico all the way to Alaska.

After only four or five days, the robins are on the back lawn, hopping along, learning to fly and enjoying their life! They will continue to try begging food from their parents for a couple more weeks while they learn to forage on their own. These youngsters are mostly flitting about in the grove of trees opposite their nest, making occasional forays onto the lawn to hunt worms and insects. They will watch as their parents hop about, occasionally pausing to cock their heads to the left or the right, before stabbing their beak into the ground and catching a worm. Robins can hear and locate worms by listening.  The young will watch and learn also which fruits and berries to eat- which makes up about 60% of their diet. Within a month, they will be hard to distinguish from their parents.