Robins lay their eggs mid-morning after feasting on worms. A robin can then fly over to her nest and lay her eggs easily, but most other birds seem to need a long period of quiet before they can lay eggs.
Those other species can get a big breakfast even if they eat late because they don't want worms anyway! An Egg a Day is Work If you think laying an egg is easy, think again! Robins lay only one egg per day for good reasons. Female birds have one working ovary, unlike mammals, which have two. Ovaries are the organs where eggs are produced.
A bird's ovary looks like a tiny bunch of different-sized grapes. These "grapes" are the ova , or actually the yolks. The one ovum about to be released looks huge. One or two are about half this size, a few more are a bit smaller, and the rest of the ova are tiny.
About once a day, the largest yolk is ovulated. That means it pops off the ovary and starts traveling down a tube to the outside of the robin's body. This tube is called the oviduct. Egg Formation If a female robin has mated with a male, the yolk will become fertilized. If the robin hasn't mated, the yolk still goes down the oviduct and will be laid like a normal robin egg, but it won't develop into a robin. As the yolk travels through the oviduct, the tube's walls slowly secrete drip out watery proteins called albumen to surround the yolk.
Near the end of the trip down the tube, the oviduct secretes calcium compounds. The calcium compounds will become the eggshell, but the egg will remain a bit soft until it is laid.
You can imagine why the formation of an egg is a tremendous drain on a mother robin's body! Stopping At Four Robins usually lay four eggs and then stop. Like most birds, they lay one egg a day until their clutch is complete. Please enjoy these photos of my daily documentation of the Mama and baby robins from the day the eggs were laid until the day they leave the nest as fledglings.
Both are perfect for toddlers and preschoolers. Last summer, we returned home after 10 days of camping to discover that in our absence, a mother Robin had built a nest in the rafters of our covered deck.
Shortly after, she laid 3 eggs, and I set up a ladder close by, and spent the next several weeks getting up close and personal with our baby robins. I was so blessed to get pictures of the babies hatching, of the parents feeding the baby robins, and I even managed to get pictures of the robins leaving the nest.
You can see even more pictures of our baby robins here in this album on my Facebook page. A robin may have 2 or 3 broods per season between April and July , and will usually lay fewer eggs with the 2nd and 3rd nesting.
This way, all of the baby robins start developing at the same time in the eggs. After laying her eggs, a mother robin sits on the nest for about days until her babies hatch. I managed to get a photograph of our babies on the day that they hatched, and I photographed their growth every day until they left the nest. Mama Robin was very trusting and patient as I climbed up and down my ladder, snapping the pictures that you see here. And it was such a thrill to watch the parents take turns feeding the babies every day.
Both the mother and father robin feed the babies. They take turns flying in and out of the nest all day long bringing their babies their meals. For the first four days, the parents feed them regurgitated food, and then their parents start giving them small bits of earth worms.
Soon after, they start feeding them whole worms and bugs. Every time a baby robin eats, it poops immediately afterwards. This is called a fecal sac. After a few days, the parents pick up the fecal sac in their beaks, and carry it a safe distance away from the nest, dropping it as they fly. They do this to prevent predators from knowing where the nest is.
One evening, two weeks after 2 of the 3 eggs hatched the 3rd never did , our little ones spread their wings and clumsily left the nest. Fortunately, we were sitting on the deck when that moment arrived, so I grabbed my camera, and snapped the few pictures of our babies, as they hopped through the grass, and then made their way up into the low branches of a pine tree at the back of our property.
The mother and father robin will stay close to the fledglings once they leave the nest, but the mother will need to leave them before long to lay another clutch of eggs. We were thrilled when Mama returned again in late spring, and laid three eggs, and then again in July to lay 2 more, allowing us to experience it all for a second and third time, until our babies left the nest and hopped off into the shelter of the pines, once again. To learn more about robins, and to hear the songs they sing, click here.
Jackie is a mom, wife, home daycare provider, and the creative spirit behind Happy Hooligans. She began blogging in , and today, Happy Hooligans inspires more than 2 million parents, caregivers and Early Years Professionals all over the globe. The hatched 2 days ago and I saw them. Now the nest is empty. No sign that it was ever occupied. What happened to the baby birds? Oh no. Sadly, a predator probably found them. Squirrels, blue jays and crows are the likely culprits.
Mama laid her eggs in a wreath I have on my shed door. Sorry but I can not say I am happy. I need my garden tools out of the shed. I am afraid if I open the door it will upset the whole nature process. I will watch closely from now on and wont let them build there. I am way behind in planting my flowers this year.
After the nestling eats a worm, they lift up their rear and excrete the white sac which is collected in the beak of the adult bird. Sometimes the parent carries the fecal sac away in their beak and drops it far from the nest. Other times the adult swallows the fecal sac at the nest site - yuk. Apparently, the parents may eat the sacs for extra nutrition. The sac is removed from the nest by the parents to keep the nest clean.
This behavior helps to reduce exposure to pathogens and parasites, or odors that can lead to predation. Source: This information is based on direct observations by Tim Knight of four nest sites in Seattle, Washington.
Robin behavior and nesting activity can vary with location. American Robin Turdus migratorius Nest building American Robins pair-bond during the breeding season. Nest location and size The bowl-shaped nests are built in a bush, tree or under the eaves of buildings - 5 to 25 feet off the ground.
Reusing nests Sometimes the nests are reused. One nest was built on top of a old robin's nest that was constructed three years ago. So, if you find an old bird nest it's a good idea to leave it alone.
The nest building process took about two days to complete. Robin eggs The female typically lays two to four light blue eggs - about the size and weight of a quarter see photo. Protecting the nest Both parents aggressively defend the nest area.
0コメント