I have no chance of accomplishing anything beyond the most basic personal hygiene over the next month. Why you ask? Because of this.
Right outside my office window there is a window box full of decrepit pine branches, long dried out Christmas greenery and one bright blue excuse. An excuse to close my laptop, stare out the window, eat at my desk and rationalize not showering because robins are widely known to hatch when you're rinsing out conditioner. Or Creme Rinse as my sister (who still uses a paper bank book) calls it.
Let's take a step back for a second. I like to remove my Christmas greenery exactly when I can't be bothered to look at it anymore. That's usually the day pine needles get stuck to the sunscreen on my arms as I walk past it.
I've never had a problem with this method before. But this year, just outside my office window, a robin decided to take up residency and that's where it's going to be for the next 3 weeks. Which means I won't be able to get rid of the Christmas greenery in my window box until almost June. That'll give me a nice leg up in the neighbourhood whack job rankings.
It was a fun distraction from my work this little nest building. I'd type a little at my laptop and see the robin packing mud into its nest. Type a little, see the robin squishing the nest into place with its bum. Type a little, see a mourning dove move in and the robin assault it.
Before I knew it I'd stopped working on my laptop completely (other than to Google the nesting and hatching habits of robins) and spent hours staring at a birds ass. Sometimes I do it out the window and sometimes I watch my video footage. You can't have a robin's nest so close and not train a camera on it can you? I installed one of my many Arlo security cameras right above the nest. It records footage automatically when there's movement in the nest and I can press a button to take a photo as well. The photo of the egg at the top of this post is from my real camera, not the security camera. The security camera takes good pictures, but not that good.
This is the quality of the photos with the security camera. Good enough to identify this robin if it steals a package from my front porch, but not good enough to make it into National Geographic.
In the past day I've watched and learned how a robin forms a nest. I've seen it puff out its little feathers and lay the first of its eggs. AND IT'S AMAZING.
I'll save all of that stuff for my beginning to ending post of the robin but today I thought you'd like to see nature in harmony up close. I call this Dance of the Mourning Dove.
I figured that keeping all of this to myself was moderately selfish so I've been saving the footage and taking pictures, and once the whole event is over and the birds have flown away I'll be bringing you an in depth post on the entire sequence of events from laying to hatching to feeding and flying.
It will all culminate with the grand finale of - me removing the dead greenery from my window box.
And washing my hair.
→Follow me on Instagram where I'll be posting more Robin's nest pics & videos.←
Penny
Robins here in the UK are very different. They still have a red breast, but the rest of their plumage is a soft, light brown all over. No speckles. And their eggs are small and white with reddish-brown speckles. We have a few that visit our (tiny) garden on a regular basis. I swear, they can smell a spadeful of turned soil, or a recently-moved rock from half a mile away! As soon as I start work in the garden I can expect a visit. One of them will even take grubs like leatherjackets right out of your hand if you sit nice and still for just a few minutes.
They are just as fierce as your Momma robin, though. A couple of years ago, I saw one kill all the baby blue tits in a nesting box by pecking through the tops of their tiny skulls. Mother Nature is gruesome at times.
Ritz
Just wonderful!
Melissa
Love this post and video- captions made me laugh. Thanks for sharing!
Patty Kelly
Loved your video. Mother Nature is truly amazing. I have 6 birdhouses placed in our yard and thoroughly enjoy watching my tenants move in and out annually.
Dana Studer
Between George, Charlotte, Louis, April the giraffe's first baby, then her second baby, it seems like I'm on baby watch constantly. Robin's nests take the cake when they're in our own yard, don't they? We had one in a small flower pot a few yrs ago. Our daughter was maybe 6 and over the moon about it. Keep us updated!
PegB
This is amazing. Luckily, I got here when the actual bird footage was up. I have watched the eagle cams and sometimes those vids get sort of wavy, maybe when the wind blows??? I don't know, but I am impressed with your steady video work. Also, that mourning dove was pretty cheeky!
BTW, I follow you on IG and saw this a few days ago. You are very entertaining for this housebound grammy.
Kate Budacki
How funny! I helped fledge a nest of Carolina Wrens last night. Mom had built a nest in our shed on a high shelf. Wren nests are the best. Round and full of animal hair and moss and an entry hole in the middle. I had lined the exit path from the shelf to the door with couch cushions, a nice long slide to the door. However on the day they chose, no one was home to open the shed door and when I did, the shed was full of hopping little tailless birds who were then joined by the anxious parents. If you've ever heard a wren's call, you know how loud this little family was. Not sure how many there were. At least five, more like six, it was like a clown car full of tiny birds. And then they were all gone and it was quiet. so fun!
Deanna J Chesney
I really, really, really like and enjoy you. I would like to have you cloned, and given as a gift to my other "sunshine" friends. Guess your Blog will have to do, but it's just not enough. We need daily, or at least emergency contact ability. Some days can get cloudy, but you have the ability to make the sun shine with the simplest observances of life. Bless you!
Karen
Aw, thanks Deanna. :) ~ karen!
Jody
Where’s Ernie? Is she enjoying Bird-o-Vision?
Karen
Meh. She doesn't care, lol. ~ karen!
Ruth Vallejos
That blue! Right between Tiffany Blue and Fortnum and Mason's Blue. Persian Turquoise set in gold blue. Sacred, lovely, kind, with portents of babies and spring. And a face that is nothing but beak and eyes that say "bring me worms!".
I worked in downtown Oakland for years - and we would get mourning doves nesting on our fire escape, putting a few sticks together and calling it a nest. Sadly, the eggs would roll through the metal slats of the fire escape landing and crash to the sidewalk below. One "smart" dove nested in the yellow light of a traffic signal. This was a good place for a nest, but she'd wake up every time the light came on. Every time, dazed and confused with eyes a-google. Proof, again, that the creator has a sense of humor.
Karen
I constantly try to remember to Google if mourning doves really are stupid. Because the poor things still seem it. ~ karen!
Jane C.
I have a robins' nest at my back door -- the door I use all the time to access back yard, barbecue, shed and garage. Now I'm going in and out my front door, carrying a garage door remote in my purse and walking around the house a lot. I have determined that there are three eggs in the nest and am on incubation countdown.
Vikki
What a beautiful and amazing gift to you! We have lots of nesting birds but none that I can see, so I can live vicariously through yours. The mourning dove was so funny--they are so doofy! I loved your video! More please...…..
Beckie
I watch web cams from the Cornell University Lab of Ornithology. A few years ago, a robin built a nest on the corner of their building and they (Cornell, not the robin) very kindly put a web cam up.
I got nothing down for those weeks, after watching the eggs hatch. I ~had~ to keep watching to see them fledge. It was i-n-c-r-e-d-i-b-l-e!
Lucky you!! And lucky us =) (because you will share!)
Debbie
We had a Robins nest on our front porch. This year it was hijacked by some sparrows. Much dirtier little birds. They shit in their nest and there are babies in there. Robins are much cleaner. Now the robin has built her nest on my deck chairs. I was planning on staining my desk this month. Can't now as there are two babies in there. I had a little party this weekend and we all had to sit on the other side of the deck. Once those babies fly the coop I'm moving her nest. I think I'll put a window box in front of my kitchen window so my cats can enjoy the view.
Robin Carter
Interesting...no wonder you can't get any work done. Now you've gone and corrupted the rest of us #!!$@*#
Jen
Now you have me wondering about birds other than chickens. Do robins lay eggs every day are they more like us and lay them only when knocked up? I must know!
Angie
Is this the new trend in the blog world? Birds nesting in Christmas greenery, I mean. Miss Mustard Seed has a bird nesting in her front door wreath. She has babies in hers now. She doesn’t have a security camera watching them though.
Neither bird seems to have any signs in their nests that say “gather” or “live, laugh, love” so I think they chose their bloggers well. Your bird is definitely feisty.
Jan in Waterdown
Have you ever noticed that robins have facial expressions? When they stare right at you, they look pissed off... or maybe it’s just me. And mourning doves? Just tarted up pigeons imho 😁.