An update on Mrs. Robin

First, the bad news: Mrs. Robin has not returned to the nest since noon on Tuesday. At this point, I think it's safe to conclude that the eggs are no longer viable.

Now, the good news: Bill and I have had several Mrs. Robin sightings (or at least, we think it's Mrs. Robin). We haven't been able to make a positive identification, but a bird bearing a striking resemblance to Mrs. Robin has made several appearances in our front yard over the past few days. We're very glad to see that Mrs. Robin appears to be alive and well. After her brush with fame on Tuesday, we hope that Mrs. Robin has been able to find a quite place to hide out, far away from the photographers, autograph seekers, and paparazzi.

In other news, a small song bird (not a robin) visited the nest this afternoon and attempted to steal one of the eggs. The egg was laying in the planter below the nest when we got home this evening. Here is a video of the egg thief:




We are still hopeful that Mrs. Robin will eventually return to her nest and give motherhood another try. I've done some research to try to find out whether robins reuse their nests, and I've found quite a bit of conflicting information. Some sources claim that robins will reuse their nests from previous years. Other sources indicate that robins rarely reuse their nests, because the nests tend to become dirty and infested with parasites. However, given the fact that Mrs. Robin only inhabited her nest for a little over a week, we are hoping that the nest is still relatively clean and parasite-free.

Tonight, Bill and I decided that it was time to remove the remaining eggs from the nest. We are hoping that this will make the nest more inviting for Mrs. Robin, in case she decides to return. We wore gloves in order to avoid touching the nest with our hands and leaving behind a human scent. We wanted to find a dignified resting place for the eggs, and we eventually decided to lay them to rest in our planter.

Lastly, we want to thank all of the readers who have expressed their concerns and condolences over the past few days. When we first started following Mrs. Robin's journey, I never imagined that we would grow so attached to a bird. As corny as it sounds, Mrs. Robin quickly became a part of our family, and we were very sad to see her go. We are hopeful that Mrs. Robin will return to the nest soon. We will keep you posted on any future developments.

Missing Robin

Today started off like any other day for our Robin. She seemed to be doing a good job of tending to the nest, and even spreading out her wings to shelter the eggs and the nest from an unpleasant cold rain that lasted well into the afternoon hours.  Then a strange thing happened, around 9am she left the nest and did not seem to return.  We checked in on the web cam as frequently as we could, however, we did not see her tending to the nest like normal.

After reviewing the archive, Mrs. Robin did come back to visit the nest at 9:44am, 10:26am, and 12:32pm but only stood on the edge of the nest, and left after a few seconds.  It seems that we may have witnessed her making a difficult decision, and deciding to abandon the nest.

It appears that we have seen nature take its course, and in our research we have found that baby robins only have a 25% chance of survival during the first year.  For unknown reasons our Robin left her clutch a few nights ago, and left the eggs unattended for nearly 8 hours on a very chilly night.  After this interruption in incubation we have been pretty worried about the viability of the eggs, but cautiously holding out hope.  At the time we desperately wanted to intervene sensing something was amiss, but eventually decided it was best to leave nature undisturbed.  It is reported that birds have a natural sense when their eggs are not viable and will either kick them out of the nest or flee.  While we are still trying to hold out a thread of hope at this point, every minute that passes moves us further to the conclusion that we will not witness this clutch hatch.

Most unfortunately this also happened just as our story was published by a local news organization, KCCI.  It is greatly disappointing that this had to happen right as there was a large influx of people following our story.  It is a reminder that nature does not take our wishes into account when these events play out. 

All is not lost!  The American Robin has two to three broods per breeding season starting in April and lasting through July, so with a bit of luck we will have a new clutch to begin watching in the near future.  We will keep the camera feed live for another day or two while we stand vigil in hopes that our mother will return.  Rest assured that we will be ready to setup and capture the next family of Robins that take up residence at our home.

Here is a Time lapse video starting at 12am this morning until 5pm this evening of our Robin nest:




And the following are the last few glimpses of our Robin at the nest:

Protecting the nest from Rain

 Standing on the edge of the nest at 10:26am

Our last glimpse of Mrs. Robin at 12:22pm before leaving the nest for the rest of the day.

Thank you to everyone that has shared in our interest in watching our Robin nest, we hope to be back to publishing updates in the very near future.

Mrs. Robin, if you happen to read this, please come back soon.  You are always welcome at our home.

Time Lapse from 4/25/2011

While our Robin is currently MIA, I am posting a time lapse video from yesterday (24 hours starting at 12am) so that everyone can have a chance to see Mrs. Robin in action.

Welcome KCCI Fans

After seeing a sudden spike in traffic we found the article posted on the KCCI website: http://www.kcci.com/entertainment/27676151/detail.html

We wish to welcome everyone visiting our blog and watching the live feed. Our Robin seems to have taken an extended leave of absence from the nest, and we are all hoping that she is seen back in the nest soon. Mrs. Robin spent all morning sheltering the eggs from the ongoing rain, so we are a bit worried to see her absent this afternoon.

A bit more background - we have been fortunate enough to host a family of robins for about 5 years running, and we have had gotten a lot of enjoyment watching the birds hatch and grow up. After the huge success of the Decorah eagle camera, we decided that this would be something fun to share and it grew from there. Hopefully this is something that we will have the opportunity to share throughout the summer, as robins can lay eggs several times in a season typically until the month of July.

The webcam was setup before the nest was finished being built specifically so that we would not disturb the birds once the eggs were laid and incubation had begun.  The camera allows us to check in on the nest with out having to approach it or disturb the mother. 

Help Us Name Our Robins!

I'm happy to report that Mrs. Robin appears to be back on the straight and narrow. I think our chat on Sunday must have gotten through to her. Lately, Mrs. Robin has been staying in the nest and tending to her clutch, with only a few brief absences. After her shenanigans on Saturday night, I don't think anyone is going to nominate Mrs. Robin for Mother of the Year. However, we are hopeful that she will be able to keep her act together long enough to hatch the eggs, teach the little ones how to fly and hunt for worms, and send them out into the real world.

In other news, Bill and I are trying to decide what to name the baby robins when they hatch. We have books of baby names spread out all over our living room right now, and I have to admit, it's a bit overwhelming. So, we would like to ask you, our loyal blog readers, to help us choose the names. To help get your creative juices flowing, here are a few of our favorites so far:

• Christopher Robin
• Batman N. Robin
• Baskin Robin

So, don't be shy! Please use the form below to submit your nominations for baby names. Unfortunately, the negotiations with our site sponsor fell through at the last minute, so we won't be able to offer the $1 million cash prize that we had originally planned on. However, if we choose your name, you'll get the satisfaction of knowing that you got to name one of our world-famous baby robins.

P.S. Thanks to everyone who submitted an entry in the "Guess the Hatch Date" contest. We will announce the winner shortly after the robins hatch.

Time Lapse 5am to 10pm 4/23/11

The following video is a time lapse sequence taken with our Robin cam on 4.23.2011 compressing 15 hours into 41 seconds.

 

Mr. Robin Makes his debut

We have finally seen Mr. Robin - he dropped by the nest a couple of times yesterday to check things out and generally look very confused about the proper technique for sitting on the eggs. You can pick out Mr. Robin by his much darker feathers, and black tail. Mrs. Robin is much more grey.

Here is Dad checking out Mrs. Robin's nest:

Mr. Robin is a bit confused and is asking for more directions:

Mrs. Robin watching carefully from the ledge:

OK, time is up, Mrs. Robin decides that there are just some things that require a women's touch.

 Mrs. Robin had a very windy day to put up with, which may explain her absence later ...

Mrs. Robin's Wild Night

Last night, Bill and I experienced the scenario that no parent ever wants to experience. Last night, our robin did not come home.

It started out as a normal evening, with Mrs. Robin hanging out in the nest and incubating her clutch. Shortly before 10:00, we saw Mrs. Robin leave the nest. Initially, we weren't concerned. We assumed that she was just making a quick excursion down to the pond to dig up some worms for a bedtime snack. So we watched the robincam, and we waited patiently for her to return. Five minutes... ten minutes... still no sign of Mrs. Robin. If you read yesterday's "What to Expect When Your Robin is Expecting" post, you'll recall that the mother robin isn't supposed to leave her eggs unattended for more than 5 or 10 minutes at a time. The minutes quickly turned to hours, and there was still no sign of Mrs. Robin.

I checked the robincam before going to bed at 11:30, and Mrs. Robin was still missing. Bill checked the robincam periodically throughout the night, but Mrs. Robin still had not returned. Growing increasingly concerned, Bill searched the yard around 5:00 AM, but Mrs. Robin was nowhere to be found. Bill broke the news to me when I woke up this morning. Needless to say, we were both quite concerned, but there was nothing we could do except wait. Finally, around 6:30 AM, I checked the webcam, and there was Mrs. Robin, sitting in the nest as if nothing had happened.

We have no idea what Mrs. Robin was up to all night, but we are extremely grateful that she returned to the nest unharmed. Before making any unfounded accusations, Bill and I wanted to make sure that we had our facts straight. So we reviewed the robincam footage from last night, and the footage confirmed that Mrs. Robin left the nest at 9:59 last night and didn't return until 6:02 this morning. We plan to have a serious talk with Mrs. Robin later today. We will stress the importance of being a responsible parent. We will let her know -- in a firm, yet loving manner -- that it is not acceptable for her to leave the little ones unattended all night while she goes out and parties.

What to Expect When Your Robin is Expecting

Now that Mrs. Robin is in full-time incubation mode, I thought I would share a few interesting facts about the incubation process.

1. Once the female robin begins incubating, she rarely leaves the nest for more than 5-10 minutes at a time. There have been a few occasions when we've witnessed Mrs. Robin leaving the nest for 15 or 20 minutes at a stretch, and who can blame her for needing a break every now and then? But overall, she seems to be a devoted mother, and most of her excursions don't last more than five or ten minutes.
2. Female robins turn their eggs several times each day, in order to keep the eggs at a constant temperature and prevent the little ones from sticking to the inside of the shells. I think we've witnessed Mrs. Robin turning her eggs a few times, although it's hard to tell for sure, because she usually has her back to the camera.
3. Robin eggs need heat in order to develop properly. A robin's body temperature is typically around 104 degrees. However, a robin's feathers usually feel cool to the touch, due to the insulation that the feathers provide. So, with all of this insulation, how can the mother share her body heat with the eggs? The answer is that the female has a featherless spot on her stomach, called a brood patch. When the female is ready to sit on the eggs, she parts her outer feathers, allowing her hot stomach to come in direct contact with the eggs.
4. The male robin rarely sits on the eggs, but he hangs out near the nest so that he can come to the mother's assistance if she calls for help. Occasionally, the male robin will even bring worms for the female robin to eat. I guess this is the avian equivalent of the human father-to-be who runs to the store late at night to fulfill his pregnant wife's desire for mint-chocolate chip ice cream topped with anchovies. Bill and I had become a bit concerned, because we never saw Mr. Robin during the first few days of incubation. What if he turned out to be a deadbeat dad, leaving Mrs. Robin all alone with four hungry mouths to feed? Or -- even worse -- what if he had decided to run off with that shapely red-breasted robin who lives across the street? Just when we were beginning to worry, Mr. Robin made a brief appearance on the robincam. We were quite relieved to discover that he hadn't left Mrs. Robin.

So, there you have it -- everything you ever wanted to know about the robin incubation process. Don't forget to submit your entry for the guess-the-hatch-date competition. Remember, all entries are due by Sunday at midnight.

Shake Your Tail Feathers

Here is a really cute settling in dance Mrs. Robin does each time she flys back to the nest, enjoy:

Guess the hatch date, win a prize!!

Today has been a relatively uneventful day here at Robin Central. Mrs. Robin has left the nest a few times to hunt for worms, but she spends most of her day sitting patiently in the nest and incubating. It's a lonely, thankless job.

However, I do have some exciting news to share with our loyal blog readers. We are launching our official "Guess the Hatch Date" contest!! The person who submits the winning guess will win an authentic, one-of-a-kind framed photograph of the baby robins -- guaranteed to make you smile.

Here are the contest rules:

1. To enter the contest, please use the form below to specify the date and time of day that you think the first robin will hatch.
2. All entries must be received by midnight central time on Sunday, April 24.
3. In the event of a tie, a sudden-death gummy worm eating contest (in keeping with our robin theme) will be used as a tie breaker. The contestant who eats the most gummy worms in 60 seconds shall be declared the winner.
4. All judges' decisions are final.
5. Please only one guess per person.

Here are a couple pieces of information to assist you in formulating your guess:

• According to allaboutbirds.org, the incubation period for the American robin is 12-14 days.
• Mrs. Robin laid her 4th and final egg on Tuesday, April 19.

OK, let the games begin. Good luck!

Let the waiting begin...

Here at Robin Central, the past four days have been a flurry of activity and excitement. Every 24 hours, like clock work, a beautiful, new egg appeared in the nest. Now that the clutch is complete, it's time to sit back and wait patiently for the eggs to hatch. The incubation period typically takes 12-14 days, which means that our baby robins are expected to hatch some time between May 1 and May 3. However, I want to assure all of our loyal blog readers that we don't plan to let our blog languish during this lull in activity. We have lots of fun activities planned, including a name-the-baby contest and a guess-the-hatching-date contest. In addition, we'll be updating you on Mrs. Robin's progress and sharing all sorts of interesting facts about the mating habits and parenting practices of the American robin. And best of all, you can check out our robincam for live streaming video of the nest.

Mrs. Robin seems to have settled into a comfortable routine. Despite my earlier concerns about her parenting skills, she is proving herself to be a very attentive and dedicated mother. She has left the nest a few times today (presumably to forage for food), but she usually returns within 5 or 10 minutes. I feel a little bit sorry for Mrs. Robin, because sitting still for 2 weeks seems like it would be awfully tedious. I feel like I should offer her some cross word puzzles or celebrity gossip magazines to help her pass the time. However, she always takes off in a huff whenever Bill or I approach the nest, so I guess we will just have to let her find her own ways to entertain herself.

Live Feed

We have a live feed of our mother and her clutch, which you can view here:  UStream
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/robin-camera


Online video chat by Ustream

There may still be a few bugs to work out, so be patient if the video feed drops. 

Our clutch is complete!

In case you're wondering, a clutch is the term for a group of eggs. (For those of you who enjoyed the analogy questions on the verbal section of the SATs... Clutch is to eggs as litter is to puppies.) Robins typically lay four eggs before they begin the incubation process. Our robin laid egg #4 today, so, by my calculations, we now have a full clutch!

According to my sources, the mother robin is supposed to start incubating the eggs once the clutch is complete. However, Mrs. Robin has been conspicuously absent from the nest tonight. There could be any number of perfectly good reasons for her absence. Perhaps she decided to spend one last evening gathering worms to fortify herself for the incubation process. Or maybe Mrs. Robin is an over-achiever, and she's planning to lay a fifth egg (although this seems somewhat unlikely, given that the nest is already pretty crowded with four eggs). I don't want to accuse our dear robin of being an unfit mother, so I will give her the benefit of the doubt for now.

In other news, Bill just finished installing a webcam (or, as we like to call it, a "robincam") so that we can monitor the nest remotely. I think Mrs. Robin will appreciate this development, because she doesn't seem to like it when we come near the nest. As I'm sitting here typing, I just saw (via the robincam) that Mrs. Robin has returned to the nest and started incubating. I'm glad that I gave her the benefit of the doubt, because it appears that she is indeed a very caring and devoted mother.

Another day, another egg

Like clockwork, our mother robin popped out another egg today, bringing the total up to 3. Mrs. Robin continues to make herself scarce when she is not laying eggs. She seems to be a very early riser, because I checked the nest as I was leaving for the gym at 5:00 this morning, and there was no sign of Mrs. Robin. I also checked before I went to bed last night, and she wasn't in the nest then, either. So I'm not sure whether she even returned to the nest at all last night. But who can blame our young mother-to-be for wanting to live it up a little bit while she still has the chance?

Based on my extensive research of the gestational habits of robins, Mrs. Robin should lay her fourth and final egg tomorrow, and then the incubation process will begin.

Two down, two to go...

As you can see, our family is growing rapidly.  The mother robin laid her second egg today.  Two more days of laying eggs, and then we'll be ready to start incubating.

The mother robin has been making herself scarce lately.  Apparently this is typical behavior for an expectant mother robin.  The robin will wait until she's laid all four eggs before she begins sitting on the eggs.  This way, all of the eggs will hatch at roughly the same time.  In a few days, the mother's life will revolve around keeping the eggs at just the right temperature to allow the babies to mature.  We can only hope that our mother robin is out socializing with her girlfriends, having a few drinks, and making the most of her last few days of freedom.

We are eagerly awaiting the arrival of egg #3 tomorrow.  

Caught in the act

Today we caught the mother robin in the act of laying egg #2.  If you read yesterday's post, you'll recall that robins typically lay one egg per day over a period of four days.  Our mother robin is right on schedule.  This morning, we walked out to the nest shortly before noon, and the mother robin was sitting in the nest, looking very satisfied after a morning of dining on worms.

We decided to give the mother robin some privacy, but the next time we checked the nest, there were two eggs.

Nest built

Bill and I are pleased to announce that we are expecting a baby...

... a baby robin, that is.  (Why, what did you think I was going to say?)  Actually, we're expecting four baby robins.  This is our first installment.  

The mother robin built this nest in the bush outside our house a few days ago.  The first egg appeared on Saturday.  After doing a bit of research, I learned that female robins typically lay one egg per day over a period of four days.  I also learned that robins like to lay their eggs in the late morning.  Apparently, laying eggs is a lot of work, so the female spends most of the morning feasting on worms to fortify herself for the task.  Once she's eaten her fill of worms, she returns to the nest and lays an egg.  

One down, three to go...