The robins from the nest outside my kitchen window fledged yesterday. On Friday morning, first thing after I turned on the coffee pot, I looked out and the nest was full of two big robin chicks chirping and mouths open. Mom and Dad Robin were in the yard scurrying round and just generally being great parents. And then Saturday morning I hit the coffee button and went to the window and the nest was empty. No note, no babies hanging around the yard. :-( Oh well. The season moves on. All the baby birds and rabbits are now out and about in the beautiful lush world of a New England summer.
It is still the middle of winter her, but the flame robins have been around...him all decked out in his best courting gear, obviously about ready to nest. They have to get it over early because it is too hot to sit on eggs in the summer here. If they are lucky they may fit in two clutches.
ReplyDeleteA robin built a nest in our apple tree. We loved seeing the robin sitting on her eggs in the nest. One day we went out and the nest was laying on the ground. The baby birds were on the ground dead. It was so sad. We found scratches on the tree trunk. We think that a neighbor cat climbed the tree and found the nest. This was even sadder than having the baby birds grow up and fly away.
ReplyDeleteI also have robins and finches, pigeons and blackbirds nesting in my garden. Unfortunately, I also have 3 cats and have to be continually resucing wildlife and shutting them inside the house. I know cats are programmed to hunt but it's so frustrating trying to maintain the balance in the garden!
ReplyDeleteWe have all kinds of baby birds, beginning around May. It's usually easy to tell which ones are the babies, because they are either trying to get mom to feed them or they sit on the feeder clueless. This year we got to see the usual array of American goldfinche, chickadee, and starling babies, but we also got to see some nuthatch and hummingbird babies. Seeing the baby hummingbird was something, because it was so tiny.
ReplyDeleteYael