Empty nest

I thought I would write about butterflies next, but there is a robin update. The baby robins have grown up and gone off to college. We didn't see them fledge, but after examining the nest and the area around it I'm pretty confident that they made it out on their own without mishap. The nest is intact and undisturbed.

This nest is a work of real beauty. I'm amazed at the carefully molded mud layer pressed against the grass outer layer. It's hard to photograph even now that I'm free to get up close, because it's so well hidden.

It's best to leave it undisturbed. I've read that birds may come back and reuse it for the 2nd brood of the season, building a new layer on top of the old nest first. I've never seen this myself.

Other birds have been carrying nesting material around the yard, so we know there's a lot going on in the nearby bushes and trees, mostly out of sight.

Mr. Lonelyhearts, the little house wren, is still trying to get a date. He's been singing and putting twigs into the birdhouses, but we still don't see a mate.

Nesting update

Robins

Baby robins! We see three tiny beaks in our robin's nest. One looks bigger than the others, but this may be because of its position in the nest. Other (fuzzier) pictures show them all about the same size.


All day the parent robins gather worms and bugs from our back yard and ferry them to the nest. The lawn and especially the flower beds seem to offer a birdie buffet. When they're not feeding the nestlings, the parents are often standing guard in a nearby tree or on the fence. They chase away blue jays who wander into the area. The jays may only be after the peanuts at the feeder, but our robins are taking no chances, since jays are known to eat eggs or prey on nestlings.



Wrens
We're watching our little house wren with some puzzlement. Will he ever get a date? He's put some sticks into all 3 of our birdhouses, and last weekend we saw him fly to each house in turn, perch on the top, and sing. ("Oh, what a beeea-u-tiful nest; I made it just for you-ooo...") But we haven't seen a mate. Last year we had wrens nesting in 2 our of birdhouses, and we saw the pairs together. But we're not sure whether we have a pair, or a lonely bachelor.


This house shows the largest nest of the 3, and so we think they'll nest here, if they nest in our yard at all. The nest is bigger than it was last week, but we're still not sure what they're up to. House wren nests are practically all twigs -- and if you ask me, they could use a few lessons in interior decorating. But the mama wrens seem to like it, and I guess that's what counts.






Chickadees

I have no idea where these little guys are nesting, but we think it must be nearby. I enjoyed watching this chickadee pulling fibers out of my planter--he worked at it for several minutes, and then flew off with a beakful of them. Later, I watched as the pair pulled little vine bits off the brush pile. Chickadees are cavity nesters, so they'll excavate a hole in a tree, or nest in a birdhouse. (Pick ours! Pick ours!)


Visitors of note this weekend included a grey catbird and -- to my utter astonishment -- a cedar waxwing. Butterflies have started appearing too -- and they will be the focus of my next post.

Busy robins

In southern Indiana, it's finally spring. Sunny and in the 60s, perfect weather for gardening. I started clearing the dead foliage from the flower beds, and my mate-4-life mowed the grass for the first time this season. We use a push-mower (no gas), so we can't let it get very long.

There are quite a few robins who hang out in our yard. They hop through the back yard, flicking the leaves aside with their bills and digging worms or bugs out from underneath.

One robin was building a nest somewhere nearby, and kept returning to the back yard for dead grass and plant matter left from last year. The robin in the photo above has a mouthful of old plant fluff and grass; the robin below has strands of grass. Both photos were taken on Sunday in our back yard.

According to my handy reference sources, female robins build the nest in layers: 1-a foundation layer of grass, leaves, and twigs; 2- the mud layer, pressed into a bowl shape on top of the grass layer; and 3-the soft inner lining. Our robins were working on that first layer over the weekend. Robins lay 3-4 blue eggs, and they usually raise 2 broods in one season. They stick with their mate for the season, but not for life.

I think I know where these robins are building, though I haven't been able to spot the nest yet. We put out nesting material in net bags and also on the ground. Feathers, straw, short (3") bits of string or yarn, dog hair, bits of wool -- all make good nesting material. Some we gather from around the house, and some we buy from the local birdwatcher's store. I think it would be cool to find some of my old yarn in a robin's nest. But it looks as though we're producing good nesting material just by not raking the lawn!