growing, growing...

They are getting so big! Every day they look so different. It has been wonderful to watch them - and we even love being yelled at by the parents whenever we try to walk into our, I mean 'their' yard.

Fun facts::

• A female robin builds a nest out of grass and small twigs held together with mud
• The eyes of nestlings open when they are about five days old
• Robins usually live for six years, but can live up to 14 years
• Earthworms are a favorite food
• Other soft-bodied invertebrates they eat include caterpillars, beetles and grasshoppers
• Fruits and berries account for 60 percent of robins’ diet (I can verify that they love our strawberries)
• Parents feed their young in the nest until they are ready to leave it at 14 to 16 days of age
• Baby robins cannot fly for the first few days after they jump from the nest
• Within a day or two their wings grow stronger and they begin to take short flights
• Their parents feed them (even on the ground) until they have learned to feed themselves

We have been reading about the life cycle of Robins. Here are a few books we are reading now:




A Nest Full of Eggs












The Robins in Your Backyard

hatched!

We have hatched robins! Yesterday I checked and saw one had hatched, and by this afternoon we have 3. Only one little egg left, most likely will hatch in the next day or so. They are so tiny. Little bits of pink skin and fuzz.

We have been reading about robin eggs and juveniles, and we only have 10-15 days after hatching before they start to dive out of the nest. The nest is just above my eye level, so I have been holding the camera up in the air and taking pix down into the nest when the mom is gone. I did get a video for the boys too - we don't want to disturb them too much, but they really want to see as we go along. The birds picked the perfect spot for the nest - our yard has lots of spots to hide, lots of worms, fresh water, and an arbor with pot holders which is so convenient for nest building.

Very exciting!