Now, if this don't beat all...

Just a funny thing I want to share about Mama...
Today I HAD to water the Petunias. It's quite a challenge to get more than 2 pots watered without her looking at me with patience until I get back in the house. Well, I peeked out the door after I just got back inside and she hopped up onto the pot's edge and looked in her nest long enough to count her eggs, then as if to know I was watching her, she then looks at me before she hopped in the nest. I guess the trust factor isn't quite 100% yet...What a hoot! LOL
She just warms my heart so much :D
A side note* My guess is that her eggs should start hatching early next week...yay!

This message was edited May 22, 2010 1:29 PM

This message was edited May 22, 2010 1:32 PM

How wonderful that you get to experience this intimate setting with the Robin and its nest, Susan.
Kim

yay!

The heat and humidity is fierce today...Whew!
Tonight I have to turn around all of our porch railing planters (except hers) because we'll be getting winds with gusts up to and excess of 50 mph out of the south all day tomorrow...yikes! Our porch faces the south...Grrrrrr. Usually on days like that I will bring the planters into the garage, but with Mama protected by the winds by having all the planters outside, at least I can turn them around so the flowers on the backside will get the brunt of the forcefull winds and she will still be protected. Some of the Petunias have died already from all day yesterday winds being in excess of 40 mph...and they were out of the south.
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind replacing some Petunias...I just don't want to have to replace all of them...LOL
I am concerned for when severe T-storms roll through though...
Most either come from the south and head north or they go from west to east. There has been many times that not only did I bring in the potted planters, but our furniture too. We have a glass top table and 2 adorondack chairs I bring into our livingroom til the worst of the storm passes. I'm sure you are all familiar with the severe T-Storms that have the huge gusts of high winds (here they are between 50-70 mph) for the 1st 5-15 minutes as the storm approaches.
What do ya'll suggest "if" one of these storms roll through?
The last time, Mama wasn't even in her nest when a storm was coming...she was in the neighbor's tree. I was considering taking her planter into the house for the 5-15 minutes...just until the worst of the winds pass, to protect the eggs or hatchlings, and then bring it immediately back outside. Not only do I fear the eggs will take flight, but the nest too. It is not securely attached to anything, just sitting on top of the potting soil. At least when the female robins build a nest in a tree, it is usually more securely in place with mud-pack.
I want to do the right thing folks :)
Here's a pic of Mama today...she gave me her backside pose. While she was bathing, I checked and none of her eggs hatched yet. I'm an impatient Godmother...LOL
We will have severe T-storms rolling through tomorrow late afternoon/evening...Weeee...NOT! :/

This message was edited May 23, 2010 7:55 PM

I've brought a blown-down robin's nest and chicks inside for longer than that while I repaired the nest, rigged up a catch-basket under it, etc... got the nest back in the tree, then returned the hatchlings, and there was a loudly joyous reunion with mom & pop robin. I don't think they'd be inclined to abandon eggs in a nest just because you moved it for a few minutes... and I'm sure it wouldn't even be a question with baby birds.

Robins are fun, but they're often not too bright about where & how they build those nests!

Thanks Critter...that makes me feel more comfortable doing it...and of coarse, only if I have to. I'll wait til the last minute so it's not in the house any longer than it has to be...

"they're often not too bright..."

LOL

I've had house sparrows build a nest on this teeny spot at the top of a column on our front porch... well, last year a robin took over that location. You can bet it was a tight squeeze getting a nest up on that little platform! She would sit facing outward from the column (so she could watch the door), but in order to do so her tail would be pressed vertically against the corner. LOL! We did have a good time watching them through the little windows across the top of the door. :-)

Critter,

Oh My! That's such a fun story!!! She has the fringe effect going on...LOL
I must go to her for decorating advice...HA! Bless her heart!
Thanks for sharing...I assume she didn't come back this year and nest in the same location...
Guess she found a larger ledge for room to move?
I'm hoping ours will nest in the planter again next year :D

This message was edited May 23, 2010 8:54 PM

We put in a glass storm door this winter, so the front door may be "open" a bit more than she's comfortable with.. however, my dad did spot a robin checking out the ledge just yesterday!

There's a robin nesting somewhere in the front yard.. I can hear his 'territory' song... but I haven't spotted the nest yet. They'll nest anywhere, with seemingly little thought as to the structural soundness of a rose bush or a clematis vine...

Critter,
I'll cross my finger she will nest there for you :)
I was wondering if I went and bought some mealworms and set a small bowl near the nest if she will enjoy them or ignore them...whatdoyouthink?
I've read that they will eat meal worms...

I wouldn't buy meal worms if you have a few spare "regular" worms in your garden. I've had robins take worms or fruit (raisins, grapes, cherries), but I've also had them ignore my offerings entirely!

Susan, hope the storm will pass you by. Thanks Critter for sharing your experience. Susan, I offer my Carolina Wrens mealworms with their first borns this year. They love 'em. I'm thinking of giving them earthworms in the future because they're more readily available.

Well folks, I pray I didn't mess things up for Mama and her clutch...
About an hour and 1/2 ago now, we had a severe T-storm roll through here with straight line winds in excess of 60 mph. DH and I waited til the last minute before we started to bring the porch planters and furniture into the garage til the worst of the winds passed. Well, what happened was, by the 3rd planter that we took on the porch, Mama took the hint and flew off into the nearby tree. I brought all the planters back outside after the storm passed. Since it was a very hot day, the garage temp was still in the 80's.
I have now been peeking out the front door to see if she has returned yet and she hasn't...
Oh I'm just so upset and crying...feeling guilty thinking I was helping save her future brood. I don't know if I'll get any sleep tonight. I pray she doesn't abandon her nest.
All I know is the last time we had winds like that and we didn't bring everything inside, we had a lot of damage...and I was worried for Mama's and her future family's safety.
Lordy Be...I feel just awful right now :(

This message was edited May 24, 2010 11:58 PM

Update...
We think she just got back in the nest. DH used the video camera from our door using the infrared when it's dark and he thinks he was able to see her tail-backside...Whew! Maybe now I can get some sleep. I wish there was a way to have nailed her nest in the darn pot. I wouldn't have worried so much. I know she would have faired alright, but those eggs would have been scrambled against our window and the nest would have rolled down the street :/

That sounds really promising, Susan Louise. Even if things don't or didn't work out, you did everything with the babies best interests at heart. Sometimes circumstances force us to make choices where there's a chance the outcome may not be good, but on a balance of things, it certainly sounds like intervention was the only alternative.

Sleep tight.

I will bet she returned.I know how heart wrenching it is to ,well what Ive found 2 robins nests shredded and a warm egg lying on the ground,sadly I picked up the nest and placed the egg in it and put it back in the spruce tree,Iam sure it wasnt reclaimed ,kept thinking how can I hactch this thing my better judgement told me it was ok not to do any thing,makes me very sad to say the least.They will build another nest and lay more eggs.Iam hoping for you = }

Hello Margaret and Hugger,

She is in the nest...life is good!
About an hour after DH spotted the her tail before we went to bed, another severe T-storm rolled through. Thank goodness that one didn't have the winds the other one did, so we were able to leave everything "as is".
All we can do is pray that any T-storms that will have those winds as they approach, will come from the N & NW and not the S and SW and W from now til her clutch becomes fledglings. It's a good thing that not all the T-storms have those winds.
Here's a link to a map that shows the storm report from last night and one of the blue dots (representing a high wind report) was for Lincoln/Lancaster county...
http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/reports/yesterday.html

This message was edited May 25, 2010 7:42 AM

WooHoo! We're Godparents!!!
Mama has 2 of the 4 that hatched this morning...
Here are a 3 pics I took while she was out getting some worm grub...

The 2 hatchlings and 2 eggs...

This pic is fuzzy, but shows one is hungry already :D

woohoo! excellent pic! Now why did the dancing bald guy on the Six Flags commercial just pop into my head??

Congrats :)

And about 1/2 an hour later I waited for Mama to leave again so I could get a better pic and with this latest pic is shows the hatchling inside the egg on the left is working it's way out already! Maybe all 4 will be hatched by the end of the day!
Timewise, Mama laid her 4th and last egg on the 15th, so we didn't expect the eggs to hatch for another couple of days since the average incubation time is 12-14. I didn't think I should have counted the days prior to her last egg being laid...oh well...lol

Hello Chris,

Thanks! This is so exciting...
I'll only attempt one more pic much later today to see if the last 2 hatched before nightfall. I want to give Mama all the peace she needs. It's a wonderful day! :D

Oh, what fun!

I'm always tempted to drop an extra worm or two into those open mouths when I have a nest I can reach like that... but only after they get older and don't need their worm pre-chewed LOL.

Awwwww, how precious. Wonderful pics. 'Godmother'!

Congratulations Susan!

Aww, congrats!!!

Hi Everyone. Love the photos of the young babies. Brand new and about to be more. Love this thread. My dad loved his birds and he got me going in that direction too but have not put anything oput as too many cat's in the neighborhood.

Thanks everyone!!!!
Another update...
There are now 3 hatchlings and one egg left. Here's a series of 4 pics I took over a period of about 5 hours between 12:45pm through 5:30pm. I stayed by the window and about once an hour I took a pic. I know I said I would only take pics one more time today, but my curiosity got the best of me. I wanted to know about how long it took for a hatchling to get out of an egg from start to finish and I got a cool series of pics and a time frame!

This 1st pic was taken at 12:45pm...notice the egg on the left is starting to break open in 2 areas with the 3rd hatchling :D

At about 3:15pm I saw Mama carry off 1/2 an egg shell...probably dropped off by our birdbath...LOL
I took this next pic at 3:45pm. The hatchling still in the process of removing itself from the other 1/2 of it's shell casing...

This pic was taken about 4:40pm.
Mama under the hot sun shading her babies while not laying on them in the nest :D

This last pic of the day was taken at 5:30pm. Three beautiful hatchlings and one egg left. It looks like the 4th egg is just starting to crack open (looks like there is a dark area/opening just to the left of the white scratch mark). I can't wait til morning to see if there will be 4 healthy hatchlings!!!

Ahhh, Robins are so beautifully ugly as hatchlings.

Have fun!

This is such a treat to be watching, Susan Louise.

They are little uglies but still so sweet. I agree with MargaretK. A real treat.

Mrs_Ed, MargaretK and Rebloomnut,

So glad you enjoyed all the new series of pics! Sometime later this morning I'll check and see if the 4th one hatched :)

Yup I agree ,a real treat, great series,have fun

Thanks Huggergirl :)
I took a peek into the nest while Mama was worm hunting and the 4th egg hasn't hatched yet. I'll check again around noon time...

Susan, Could that be the first one laid?

Pelle,
Hmmm...I don't know, I didn't put #'s on them...LOL
I just looked back at all the pics from all the eggs being laid and it looks like it's possible...by the position, that it could be...
Why? Are the 1st ones duds or blanks?
And if so, I'd be curious as to when she removes the "bad" egg, if that be the case...

This message was edited May 27, 2010 10:18 AM

I was just thinking about your first post concerning the temps and how long Mom was off the nest.