No Baby Robins Here

After the robins built their nest by the front door, I looked up robin behavior, and I learned they mate for a season and come back to the same territories. The male and female look the same, but they behave differently. Both contribute to building the nest. After the nest is done, one egg a day is laid until there are three or four. Then, the female begins brooding, for 50 minutes of every hour, and the eggs all hatch at the same time. The male is generally gone by then, hanging out with other guys. The female provides food until the hatchlings are fledged and finding their own food.

Once it was clear the robins were committed to the nest, I made a real effort to avoid the front door, except for the daily nest check. I put my camera on a long selfie stick and took a picture down into the nest. I was excited to see an egg a day appear, as if the robins had read the book.

But then, on the fourth day, tragedy struck. In fact, it struck in multiple ways. When I looked out first thing in the morning, a new cat (not seen around before) scatted off the porch. I felt bad, but then an hour later a crow was also there on the porch. So I don’t know exactly who the culprit was, but eggs were smashed and only one left.

The aftermath of tragedy

The nest is still there, and one egg is there. I’m pretty sure the nest has been abandoned, but I’ll leave it there for a while.