We were watching a busy robin couple.
They built their nest in a small tree/bush that is getting cut down this year. G told his mom that she had to wait for the robins to be done with their nest before having it chopped. She has been wanting to do it for years. The robins have been nesting in this same tree for as long as anyone can remember.
Their nest this year is at eye level. The robins haven’t cared that we are sitting close by in the breezeway.
They haven’t cared that we peek in and take some phone pics of their eggs, even their just born babies. We are nosy, but leave them alone.
The other morning I startled awake to a frenzy of alarmed bird noises. A crow was attacking. I ran outside and hopefully interrupted the crow. The two robin parents chased it far away.
I peeked into the nest. Two of the three babies were motionless, but still there.
All morning I watched for the robin parents to return. They came close, but wouldn’t return to the tree or nest. Hours went by.
How long can baby birds go without eating? Google said thirty minutes. I knew that was wrong because the parents would be gone a couple hours when the babies were just born. I worried about this because it was so cold and the babies had no feathers. They hatched on three different days, one, two and three.
The attack happened before five am. It was close to one o’clock and still the parents were not going back to the tree.
I decided to look for worms. It didn’t matter how deep I dug, I couldnt find a single worm. The robins did this effortlessly. All day long. How was I so bad at it?!
I consulted AI. Yes baby birds eat full size worms, bait worms would work. So I went to the local gas station/bait supply (Henny Penny) store and explained to the girl what I was using them for. She recommended the red container variety. She actually gave them to me for free.
That’s how I ended up feeding baby birds. On that day I was actually busy. Too busy to be a robin parent.
With what? it would be fair to wonder since I’m still on the east coast. Lots of stuff actually. (I’ll catch up soon). I had to be at work in minutes when the first baby I fed, (he ate four little worms!) JUMPED out of the nest! I got down off my stool and put him back in, he jumped again! Twice more and then hop/ran into a big bush. Meanwhile the parent robins decided to show back up and became frantic, so I left them to figure things out. One in the nest, one on the ground, one half fed, the other full, but lost. I had to get away from the nest because it seemed to be freaking the parents out completely.
At work I got two texts from G’s mom.
“The nest is empty!“
Then later:
“I found the frightened baby when I was mowing. I caught him and put him in a grocery bag. The robins are frantic. What should I do?!”
Maybe let him out? G’s mom is not one to get involved trying to help nature. She told me she was just trying to calm him down. Talk about trauma survivor. First the crow, then abandonment, then chased by a lawn mower and now captured . I guess he ran stumbling out ahead and she felt sorry for panicking him.
I was home less than an hour later. The baby, still in the bag, chirped a little so I offered a worm. He ate about three. There was no sign of the parents. Dusk was settling in. I googled. I asked AI. What to do for the night?
I learned that baby robins don’t eat after dark. It was suggested that I cover the bag with something light like cheese cloth and leave it in the garage because an abandoned baby bird would be very vulnerable to predators at night.
Apparently robins don’t fly out of their nests, they jump out at 13-16 days and spend another 10-15 days hopping around helplessly while they are fed by their parents.
I read up on baby robins. I slept badly, and got up as soon as I heard birds, this was predawn, around 4:30. I had the idea to put my little captive into our fenced vegetable garden. I fed him and waited for more light. Placed him where there were plenty of good hiding places. He could fit through the wire if a parent came back, otherwise he’d be safe.
Two weeks is a long time. It’s a wonder we have robins at all, the odds aren’t with them. Our baby was only ten days old, (or nine or eight) a full three to six days too soon. I had the phone number of a wildlife rescue place that was closed. I was hoping to take him there in the morning, but they told me no.
I fed him before yoga and after. He stayed put and ate the whole container of bait as the morning progressed.
I had go to buy more.
At one point I saw the mother sitting on one of the garden fence posts. So I turned and walked the other direction.
When she was gone, I checked on him and he was gone too.
G spotted him a few hours later in a blueberry bush, parents hovering.
The next day out neighbors were talking about a baby robin on their side of the road that appeared randomly (they had no trees and no robins until they saw this baby, and then it’s parents). Ours was still in the bush.
My new bird expert friend said it happens that babies can become far apart and parents will still go to all of them. We compared pictures, these two looked to be the same. Could it be that both are surviving and doing just fine?!
I see them every day now. First one, then two robins on the ground, then if I watch closely, a little hopping fluff that quickly disappears.
I wonder about how I got caught in this baby robin drama. Up until now, I never held a baby bird or fed one. I didn’t know they could digest whole worms. And I had no idea about fledging. I would have guessed it might last a couple of days. Not weeks! We once had little birds nest in our yard, it went quite differently. One day they all just flew away. No learning to fly, they just somehow could.
So if I ever see baby robins hopping around, I’ll know to look for their parents, or just figure they will come back. Even a full day later, these ones did. I’m glad I fed them though. Somehow the adult birds were afraid to check to see if babies had survived. Interesting that the babies knew to jump even as young as they were. Cool that the parents picked up as if nothing had happened.
Peace Kit 