Today, day 12, the nest was empty. I don’t know if a predator attacked the nest or they attempted to become fledglings and met with disaster. The average time for fledgling is 14 days so this would be a bit early to attempt it although it was getting crowded in the nest.
Two of the babies did not make it very far and were found partially eaten under the bush their nest was in. The other two were nowhere to be seen. Hopefuly the mother got them safely to a hiding place. One of the adult robins was flying around the yard. I will be watching for them to resurface.
There are many predators for baby robins including other birds such as hawks, crows and grackles which are all in the area plus squirrels and chipmunks. A crow has been hanging around for a few days, and for the last two days the parent robins have been agitated when I would come to take pictures of the nest. Something that had not happened before. Perhaps they were aware of the danger.
This is the nest early yesterday evening, day 11.
Robins Day 11
I have a chronology of photos from each day. I will be putting up a page of those soon. I’m hoping for a happy ending but I’m not counting on it.
Update:
This evening I saw the mother robin with what looked like one of the babies in a tree in the back yard. The father was nearby on the grass and then later in the tree singing. They did not wait for me to get my camera and take a picture. They moved on to the pine tree where I could hear but not see them.
