A Week in the Life of a Robin (egg): Part 2

Just in case you missed it, here is A Week in the Life of a Robin (egg): Part 1.

The pic-umentary continues...

Pictures were taken once a day using the zoom on my camera. I never touched any part of the nest, eggs, birds, or surrounding areas and tried to be as quick and unobtrusive as possible.

These were taken through my dining room window so they aren't the clearest, but I really wanted to catch the mama robin feeding her babies. If you look closely, you can see their little open beaks. The mama seems to sit on the nest for a bit, then fly off and bring back worms - all. day. long. They seem to be constantly hungry. It must be exhausting.

Amazing. 

It rained most of the night. Hard. We had wind, thunder, lightning, and heavy rain for hours during the night. And I REALLY wanted to go outside and stand over the nest with an umbrella. But I didn't. And this morning, there was the mama robin, puffed up and spread out, and protecting that whole nest. And she was wet. And when the rain finally let up, off she went, worm hunting. And those little ugly babies, all beaks and eyes and skin and legs, were just as dry as could be.

I am sad. Today there are only 2 babies. I don't know where #3 went. I didn't find anything on the ground nearby. I did notice, over the last few days, every time I looked out the window to check on the babies, I only saw 2 little wide-open orange mouths, but I just sort of thought they were taking turns. It makes me wonder if #3 was having issues from the start, with his late hatching and all. Statistically, only about 50% of robin eggs hatch and thrive to the point of chicks leaving the nest and only 25% of baby robins survive the first year, so I know this is normal, but it still makes me sad.

Look at those little wings!! We now regularly see the mama and daddy robin feeding the babies. They seem to be bottomless pits and eat all day long. I don't envy the robin parents' constant feeding schedule one bit.

 These little guys are really starting to fill up the nest. We can hear them chirp through the window sometimes.

Stay tuned. A Week in the life of a Robin (egg) Part 3, next week!