Robins!

It’s that time of year again.

Several weeks ago, GM noticed some robins building a nest in his patio umbrella. Soon after four little blue eggs appeared:

And then about a week ago, three of the eggs hatched. All day long the mom and dad robins fly back and forth delivering worms and bugs to those three hungry mouths. (It seems the fourth egg didn’t hatch. The reason you don’t see it in the photo with the chicks is likely that often the parents will eat unhatched eggs.)

GM’s happy they set up underneath the umbrella. Two years ago another robins nest appeared in GM’s hydrangea tree. Sadly after the chicks hatched, the crows found them. Hopefully these new chicks won’t be found hidden away like this!

One interesting fact GM discovered while wondering what to do as these birds learn to fly: apparently it’s totally fine to pick up a hatchling or a nestling (i.e. baby birds) and put them back into the nest if you find them. It’s a myth that the parents will abandon any bird handled by a human.

If, however, you find a fledgling (i.e. the babies once they grow feathers) on the ground, you can leave it there. It will figure out flying soon enough and in the meantime the parents will keep feeding it.