A Week in the Life of a Robin (egg): Part 3

Just in case you missed it, here is A Week in the Life of a Robin (egg): Part 1 and A Week in the Life of a Robin (egg): Part 2.

The pic-umentary continues...again...

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.

I feel like these robin babies are growing right before my eyes. I don't envy the constant feeding schedule the robin parents are responsible for, as baby birds seem to be bottomless pits. 

With less fuzz and more feathers, these little guys are quickly reaching nest capacity. The parents seem to be feeding them all day long though they leave them alone for longer and longer periods of time. Mama no longer seems to sit on the nest but crouches kind of off to the side, and the babies stick their heads out around her. According to Wiki, they could leave the nest any day now, but I hope they stick around for a few more days. I really enjoy watching them.

Mama and Daddy Robin are still feverishly feeding their children, sometimes one right after the other. As a mom of twins, I find myself wondering if they have trouble keeping track of whose turn it is for the next worm??

The babies have really figured out the warning sounds their parents make. They huddle down deep into the nest every time I come outside on that side of the house. It makes for boring pictures.... Sorry.

Most of their fuzzy down seems to be gone and they have lots of real feathers. Though I haven't been able to catch it with my camera, a couple of times a day they take turns standing on the edge of the nest and flap their wings for flying practice. I know it won't be long now before they fly off.

Goodbye baby robins... (sniffle...) It was sure fun watching you hatch and grow up! 

PS

I will be MIA for about 10 days. I'll be enjoying a trip with my honey to celebrate our anniversary and will not be blogging while I'm away. I may snap a few pictures to share after.  :)  See ya!!

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!

A Week in the Life of a Robin (egg): Part 1

This is a pic-umentary of a robin nest built on the side of our neighbor's house and will contain more information about robins than you ever wanted to know. The fascinating knowledge I share here is a combination of personal observation and the free and always-ever-accurate resource, Wikipedea.

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

The nest is about 4-5 feet off the ground and is built on the gas fireplace vent cover on the side of the house. I can see it through my dining room window. After noticing a mama robin sitting on the nest, I had to peek inside.

I wonder if this is the same mama robin who had four babies hatch in this same nest about 3-4 weeks ago? Maybe robins share or re-use nests??  Wiki says they build a new nest for EVERY new brood of eggs but I know that isn't the case here. I'm not sure if it's the same bird, but I know for a fact it's the same nest. It's made of twigs and grass and mud. Robins usually lay 3-5 eggs in about the same number of days. And what is this group of eggs called?

Anybody?

Yes! A clutch of eggs. 

The mama robin sits on the nest pretty much the whole day, flying away occasionally but never for more than a few minutes. We had quite the rain storm on this day. Most of the nest is protected by a narrow overhang from the roof above but I watched large drops of run-off water land on the mama's tail and head for over 2 hours and she didn't move. (Well, I didn't actually watch for the entire 2 hours...)

Robin Egg Blue - one of my favorite colors from the giant box of Crayola crayons.

The mama bird rolls each egg daily so the baby doesn't get "stuck" to the inside of the shell and also to help keep the eggs at a consistent temperature. 

OOhhhh. I think I'm more excited than I should be. But they're a little gross and look more like fish than birds to me. The eggs usually hatch about a day apart in the order they were layed. Breaking out of an egg is apparently very hard work and it could take a whole day from the time the baby bird pecks a hole through the shell of the egg, until they are completely hatched.

Look - they're getting some fuzz! But I'm a little worried about this 3rd egg. 

I really thought it would be hatched today...

Phew. There you are - bulging eyes and all!

Wiki says it takes about 2 weeks for the eggs to hatch so I guess the eggs were there for awhile before I noticed Mama sitting on the nest. She still sits on the nest for most of the day, leaving for a few minutes at a time to look for worms. She sat on the roof and squawked at me the whole time I mowed the lawn on this side of the house. So then I mowed it really fast.

Stay tuned for:

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

next week.

Have you laughed (enough) today?

That old saying, "Laughter is the best medicine," really is pretty accurate. Here are just some of the proven health benefits of laughing:

-lowers blood pressure
-increases blood flow to the heart and improves oxygenation of the blood
-uses, and may increase strength in, the diaphragm and abdominal, respiratory, facial, leg, and back muscles
-reduces certain stress hormones such as cortisol, epinephrine, and adrenaline
-increases health enhancing hormones such as endorphins
-increases the response of tumor- and disease- killing cells and reduces inflammation
-helps ward off respiratory infections, may even reduce the frequency of colds
-increases memory and learning, and may even increase test scores
-improves alertness and creativity

On average, babies and young children laugh between 200-300 times a day, 

with laughter peeking at about age 5. 

Adults, on average, laugh between 15-20 times day. 

That number decreases with age and in direct correlation with time spent alone.

It has been proven that laughter is contagious. And that second-hand laughter (hearing or watching someone else laugh) can deliver some of the same health benefits as if we laughed ourselves. 

So - I think we should all:

 hang out with babies and children more often,

watch funny shows and movies, seek out funny friends, 

enjoy text messaging auto correct faux pas,

and all-in-all, look for more reasons to laugh.

"You don't stop laughing because you grow old,
you grow old because you stop laughing."     

      --Michael Pritchard

Young moms and old moms

I am about 3 weeks into a new women's bible study at my church. There are about 40 women in the study and we break into small "Table Groups" for discussion.  Most of them are young moms. I was feeling really old, a little out of place, and I must admit, questioning whether this was the study for me.

But then, I think about my table leader.

She is young; a mom of four, one of whom is 11 weeks old and not sleeping through the night. But every week she is there - on time, dressed with hair and teeth brushed, baby in a front pack, and a SMILE. That is saying something with an infant and 3 other children! She has done the homework, baked a little treat for us to nibble on, and emailed us several times over the week with our group's prayer requests and some personal encouragement. I can see and feel the love of Christ oozing out of her pores. She inspires me.

And so I am going to continue to go. I will be the old mom. I will listen to and smile at the stories of crying babies and potty training, carpools and soccer practice. And I will remember the years I was a young mom and going through the same challenges. And I know each of us will be blessed by being there.

Baby Love

I suffer from baby love. Baby animals, baby birds, baby humans...I love babies.

Though these babies are now grown and gone, I just had to share.

This summer, a mama rabbit decided to make her nest in our backyard. If you ever see a little patch of grass clippings that looks fairly deliberate and you didn't place said clippings there, be sure to peek underneath before you mow the lawn. This is what you might find! The mama rabbit digs a little burrow and lines it with fur she pulls from her underside. After she has her little ones, she covers them up with the grass clippings from the hole she dug. Mama rabbit comes to feed them in the early morning hours and again in the evening, but otherwise these little guys are on their own. They are almost bald and eyes sealed tight when they are born. At about day 5, they have fur and open eyes and are irresistibly cute. By day 8/9 they barely all fit in the little nest. And by day 11, they had left the nest and lived under our deck for awhile. 

I like to think any little bunnies I see nearby are actually "our" babies coming back to say hello. I am hoping for another nest next year!

Oh baby love...