Saturday morning, July 26. We’re out relaxing on the back deck with Rudy
or “Little Lord Fauntleroy” as David affectionately calls him.
We spot a robin’s nest in one of our giant honey locust trees- with a nesting robin!
The nest is about 8 feet off the ground, maybe 20 feet from where we are sitting.
The next day, Sunday, we discover 2 hatchlings.
When did they hatch? (Robins eggs incubate for 12-14 days. So that mother built the nest and has been nesting for at least two weeks! How did we miss it?)
When to expect this clutch of robins to ‘fledge’ or fly the nest? I research it online. Nestlings fledge at about 14-16 days old. (Did these babies just hatch out?)
I keep an eye on the nest all the following week. The weather is hot and sunny – in the low 90’s all week, and the mother is nesting, mostly, I believe to keep the babies cool.
In the evening she is off the nest for long periods. The father is always nearby. Here he is guarding the nest from above.
And preening himself from below
Rudy got dive-bombed by a robin when he ventured on that side of the back yard. The doggie frisbee fetching game, which David mostly plays with Rudy, I have forbidden until further notice, since both the dog and David get carried away forgetting which direction is unsafe for a Frisbee, sailing through the air at 20-30 mph. …
Although this is the safe end of the yard, the Frisbee could just as likely be sailing through the other end of the yard where the robins are nesting. It’s a miracle the Frisbee hasn’t sliced the nest out of the tree already.
Friday, August 1st, six days after sighting the nest, a big wind swept through our back yard.
Okay, so the wind had kinda waned by the time I captured it on video – but the initial blast of wind shot me out of my chair in the den, where I was watching TV, to check on the birds. The wind didn’t even sway the nest, to my surprise. The wind (and Rudy’s bark!) warned of more dangers that lurk to destroy the chances of survival for young robins.
It’s Saturday again. 7 days from when we first discovered the nest. 11:45 AM. I am relaxing on the deck – have just opened a book, when a black and white gooey blob of bird poop hits the bulls-eye – right on my head – drips down my forehead. “Wha-the?..” Was that on purpose? I look for adult robins straight up into the trees above me, but see no visible perpetrators. Wily! Into the house I march to clean up my hair, face, glasses, shirt, and – finally I’m back out again.
I look over at the nest – one hatchling is perched up on the side of the nest – oh my goodness!
I took a video:
The outside temperature is already soaring toward 90 degrees.
By 12:10 we’ve noticed the first bird (a fledgling now!) has jumped onto a tree limb
“They fledge because an instinct tells them they must, ” is how one article put it. At 12-14 days their brains are ripe to learn a lot of important skills – to walk, hop, balance on branches … it’s time to get started! (Okay – so that nest has been there at least 4 weeks!)
The mother (or father) comes with food. Which bird do you think gets the worm?
Awwwwww. That’s motivating! The first fledgling! The bird out of the nest gets the worm! (What can humans learn from this? – “if you want to be fed, you must be out of the nest.” hmmmm …)
The second bird is out and up on the side of the nest now
We keep watching – It’s 1:15 now. For the past hour, the first fletchling has been balancing, standing, shaking, chirping, pruning her feathers (okay, could be a ‘he’) mustering up the courage to jump! – since the baby birds can’t fly yet.
I go off to do something in the house. Return at 2:05 – 50 minutes later. The first fledgling has hopped off and is gone! The second fledgling has hopped off the nest and is perched down the limb about six feet away from the nest.
The second fledgling stood there for the longest time – preening his feathers, exercising his legs, checking out his balance, chirping, stretching his wings, mustering up all his courage – to jump!
I watched him for quite a while – Thought I might catch him jump in a video:
His mom or dad came with another worm, too. “You can do it!” they seemed to be chirping at him from not far away. Megan kept watch while I finally went off to do other things in the house. Finally at 3:18 (75 minutes later!) the bird jumped. Megan saw it and called out to me. I ran out and captured it on video just as it hopped to the end of the back yard into the peonies.
Meanwhile …. a third beak poked up out of the nest. The runt! I had seen a tiny third beak poking up between the other two – just once in the past week. I thought that bird had died. Hadn’t seen it at all amidst all this other activity.
Oh my goodness. Where has he been all this time? He is so much tinier than the other two – surely mom and dad will let him stay in the nest another day or two till he’s ready? He’s a late bloomer. Probably got bullied in the nest by the other two all along. He just needs a little time to catch up.
What do you think? Does he stay or does he fledge today? ….
The Decompression of a Boomer 
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