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Sunday, May 19, 2013

Baby Robins!

We've been having a great time at the nursing home where I work, watching some Robins with their babies. They built a nest right outside a window in our residents TV lounge, allowing us to have a front row seat to the whole event. Both residents and staff really enjoyed watching this.



Here's the mom building the nest.  She would fly in with the nest materials in her beak, place it on the nest, then wiggle around to smooth it out.  Then - off she went to do it all over again.

 

Two days later the nest was done and there were 4 eggs.  It wasn't easy to get this picture because she rarely left the nest.

 

Here she is in her customary position.  What a good Mom!

 

Then one day the eggs hatched.  You can still see one egg intact.  Later that day, they had all hatched.  I must say - baby robins aren't very cute!

 

It was fun to watch her feed them.  Sometimes the male Robin would show up and give her something, which she would then feed to the babies.

 

"I'm hungry, Mom!

 

They grew fast...

 




Not much room in that nest anymore.

 

They're getting so big they are sitting on each other.  Right after I took this picture one of them flew off and by later in the day they had all left.  We saw them hopping around in the yard for a few days though.


\
Back to an empty nest - with a little wear and tear.
I was really surprised by how fast this went.  The eggs hatched after 4 days and 2 weeks after hatching they were gone.  We really miss watching them!

"Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?"
Matthew 6:26

13 comments:

Unknown said...

I agree, not cute at all! But, the eggs were gorgeous and they turned out to be cute! Love the verse Mari! Great blog post. I have been reading, just haven't had a chance to respond!

Mari said...

Cool Mar'! Love the progression photos!

Betsy Brock said...

Awww! Well, you know I just love this! What a fantastic view you had of the whole thing! They sure got cute fast when they started growing! I've never seen them right after hatching before. They look like shrimp! haha.

ancient one said...

Loved this post!!

Jenny said...

Isn't that the most amazing thing? Your pictures are FANTASTIC!!!!

Debbie Jones said...

Great pictures and such an amazing thing to watch day by day. Our God is truly an awesome God!

Beth said...

Definitely not cute as 'newborns', but their eggs are incredibly blue!
And their nest put a whole new meaning to 'crowded quarters'!
What a delight this had to be! Thanks for starting my morning out in such a wonderful way.:>)

Hootin Anni said...

Oh boy....this is one incredible post and super images Mari!!! I love watching birds [as you know] - so this was an extra special treat for me.

I bet the residents are a bit quiet without this natural phenomenon outside their window.

Michelle said...

How wonderful that you were able to watch the whole process!

Anonymous said...

I'm so glad you got lots of pictures to share with us. Thank you! I really love the pictures of a nest FULL of babies! They build nests in some of the most unlikely places.

Raise Them Up said...

How fun! Thank you so much for the picture show! I had no idea the process went so fast. Is the mom still around? Do they use the same nest again, I wonder??

Anita said...

Fascinating! I would have done the same things - take pictures as much as possible.

An animal is seldom boring. Thanks for sharing with us and for your uplifting scripture.

Cherdecor said...

Love this.......I took a picture of our nest. The eggs were pretty, and now the little ones are still in their birthday suits! Our nests look different from yours. Yours looks temporary. Our nests are glued together above the lights. They must be different types of robins. I think it will be no small task to remove the nests.