And Esther Makes Four!

We are pleased to announce that Esther (the youngest member of our robin family) hatched early on Saturday morning. Our brood is now complete, and we couldn't be more proud!

You may be wondering how we chose the name Esther for the youngest robin. As you may recall, back in April, we asked our readers to provide suggestions for baby names. We received lots of clever and entertaining suggestions for baby names, but there was one entry that stood out. One of our readers wrote:

ESTHER...My Mom passed 12-1-97 and she loved Robins...Everytime I see one I think of her...Thank YOU so much for sharing all of this with us...me...It is always on my desktop...I LOVE & MISS YOU MOM! XOXO

We thought this was awfully sweet, so we decided to name the youngest robin Esther. And speaking of names, here are the names that we've chosen for the other three robins:

• Robin Banks
• Robin Scherbatsky (for all of the "How I Met Your Mother" fans)
• Baskin Robin

Thanks to everyone who submitted ideas!

All of our young robins are doing quite well, and it's amazing how much they've grown in the few short days since they hatched. It's easy to identify Esther, because she's still a lot smaller than her siblings (but hopefully she'll catch up soon). Mr. and Mrs. Robin seem to be doing a great job of finding worms for the little ones to eat, so it's not surprising that they're growing like weeds.

Our young robins haven't opened their eyes yet, and they still spend most of their time sleeping (when they're not eating worms, of course). It's fun to watch how they all cuddle together and keep one another warm when Mrs. Robin is away from the nest. Mrs. Robin still spends some of her time sitting on the nest to keep the babies warm. However, as the babies grow larger, it's getting more and more difficult for Mrs. Robin to fit in the nest.

We're having a lot of fun watching the robins grow. We hope you enjoy the pictures!