Meet our Robin Family!
Mr. Tchozewski, our Technology Director and Bursley neighbor, set up a livestream of our resident robin's nest. The nest is on a windowsill near room 34 and can be seen from the Bursley Pick-Up Zone. Very exciting!
Since this setup utilizes a free Ustream account, you will see occasional ads pop up. Such is the price of FREE.
(Be aware ... We don't have any control over the ads that appear, so use with caution when viewing with younger kids. It has been suggested that you to mute your computer when viewing...)
Since this setup utilizes a free Ustream account, you will see occasional ads pop up. Such is the price of FREE.
(Be aware ... We don't have any control over the ads that appear, so use with caution when viewing with younger kids. It has been suggested that you to mute your computer when viewing...)
Mrs. Steele's sister, Christy, is an ornithologist and evolutionary biologist post-doc at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She has been helping us learn a lot about robins. Some of the fantastic scientific information that she sent to us (in easy-to-understand language) can be found at the very bottom of this page. According to Christy...
Our robins' anticipated HATCH dates are May 11 and 12
Our robins' anticipated FLEDGE (leave the nest) date is May 25
New nest activity is most likely to happen in the morning hours, so consider making an observation around breakfast time!
Christy also helped us start our own NestLog. A NestLog is what scientists use to observe a nest and track where the eggs/birds are at in their incubation, hatching, nestling, and fledging process.
Please help us collect scientific data by observing the nest on the livestream (above) for 3-5 minutes, and then submit your observations using the form below. Be sure to scroll all the way to the end of the observation form and click submit.
Thank you, in advance, for your help!
Our robins' anticipated HATCH dates are May 11 and 12
Our robins' anticipated FLEDGE (leave the nest) date is May 25
New nest activity is most likely to happen in the morning hours, so consider making an observation around breakfast time!
Christy also helped us start our own NestLog. A NestLog is what scientists use to observe a nest and track where the eggs/birds are at in their incubation, hatching, nestling, and fledging process.
Please help us collect scientific data by observing the nest on the livestream (above) for 3-5 minutes, and then submit your observations using the form below. Be sure to scroll all the way to the end of the observation form and click submit.
Thank you, in advance, for your help!
The observation data we have collected to date can be found below. Enjoy!
Robin Information compiled by Dr. Christy Bergeon Burns, Ph.D.
NEST BUILDING
Male may visit nest site before nest construction and bring nesting material to his mate, but female selects the site and builds the nest
Working from inside, female constructs outer wall with dead grass and twigs, pressing from inside with wrist of wing, sometimes adding white paper, feathers, rootlets, or moss to outside. Female then carries mud from worm castings (compost) in bill. She kneads it by rotating body in hollow of cup. Too bad you missed this part!! Finally, female lines nest with fine pieces of dead grass.
Given the date, this is almost certainly this robin's first nest of the season - possibly of her life.
EGG LAYING AND INCUBATION
You can expect 3-5 eggs, probably 4
One egg is laid per day
Robins are unique among songbirds in the tendency to lay eggs in late morning, rather than super-early like most other birds. So.... You guys should totally try to watch her laying the last egg on Monday (via webcam)!!! Don't disturb her during that period or she might end up just dumping the egg somewhere else on the ground (can't stop it once it's in the pipeline)
Incubation starts the day that the last egg is laid (sometimes earlier but this is unlikely)
Incubation lasts for about 13 days after the day the last egg is laid - you do the math to determine your likely hatch date!
Usually the female will incubate for ~40 min (highly variable), stand up and rotate the eggs, then fly off to eat, etc... then return. The amount of incubation is greater during a cold day (gotta keep those eggs warm!)
The egg surface texture will change from smooth to leathery during incubation
Female birds lose the feathers on their belly during incubation, and their bellies become very vascularized to better transfer her body heat to the eggs (called her "brood patch")
Occasionally the male will bring food to feed the female while she is incubating (esp if weather is bad and she doesn't want to leave the eggs). This is my favorite thing, a true rarity to observe and so neat. Look for it!
HATCHING
Hatching takes 24 hours for each chick... the embryos start by making tiny puncture marks in the eggshell, in a ring, until they can finally pop through. They do this with an "egg tooth" which is a little spike on their beak. The female will carry the eggshell away (might eat it)
The nestlings might all hatch on one day, or on different days - this depends on whether she waited to begin incubation until they were all laid, or started "cooking" some of them before laying the later eggs.
NESTLING PERIOD
After hatching, the nestling period lasts for another ~13 days before the young fledge.
"Nestling" is what baby birds are called. "Chick" is a term reserved for chickens specifically (and duckling for duck, gosling for goose, etc... maybe "robling" would be cute for robin?)
Both parents will feed nestlings during the entire nestling period. They will make ~6-7 trips to the nest with food per hour. They typically only feed a single nestling per trip to the nest.
Food consists of soft invertebrates such as beetle grubs and parts of earthworms, but may be 30% plant material
Female broods young (sits on them to keep them warm, like incubation of eggs) for first few days after hatching until the nestlings develop homeothermy, but she does not usually remain on the nest at night after the first week
Young are fed regurgitated food for first 4 days after hatching.
Eyes open on day 5!
Nestlings compete by begging. Parents are more likely to feed nestling that starts begging earlier, extends its neck higher, and holds its beak closer to parent’s beak.
As nestlings grow, they might "jockey for position" in the nest. The amount of movement in the nests depends on if the parents always arrive with food on the same side of the nest (fight for the best spot), or if they mix it up so that there is no "best position" (just stay put).
With each feeding, nestling produces a fecal sac (poop in a nice little package, so it's not messy). When the nestlings are young, the parents usually eat these fecal sacs to keep the nest clean. When they are about a week old, they may start just carrying them away instead. Don't want to eat TOO much poop!
FLEDGING AND AFTER
The nestlings will leave the nest ("fledge") on about day 13 after hatching. Sometimes one will leave first, and the rest within 24 hours or so after that.
The nestlings won't fly well until they are almost 2 weeks out of the nest, so they do a lot of hiding.
The nestlings will wander within 150 m of the nest for up to 3 weeks after fledging. The parents will follow them around and continue to feed them while they learn to find food for themselves. The female does this at first, but then the male takes over this duty while the female starts on the next nest.
NEST FAILURE
Bird mortality is very high during the juvenile period, after the nestlings have fledged the nest. Few will survive during that first fall and winter, to breed the next spring. That's why birds can have so many offspring (4 per nest, often 2-3 successful nests per year), yet the populations usually remain stable over time.
Cats are the #1 predator of nestlings and juveniles. Cats are invasive, meaning they aren't a naturally occurring wild animal in North America. Thus, none of the native bird species had the opportunity to co-evolve with them and learn defenses against them. That is why you should keep all cats indoors and spay/neuter all cats.
If the nest gets destroyed by a cat or another predator (hawk, owl, snake, mouse, squirrel....), the female can usually build a new one in 2-3 days.
Old nests are sometimes re-used (with or without adding a new lining) but this is uncommon - she will probably build a new one someplace else once this nest is done.
Robin Data Gathered From: Sallabanks, Rex and Frances C. James. 1999. American Robin (Turdus migratorius), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/462 doi:10.2173/bna.462
Male may visit nest site before nest construction and bring nesting material to his mate, but female selects the site and builds the nest
Working from inside, female constructs outer wall with dead grass and twigs, pressing from inside with wrist of wing, sometimes adding white paper, feathers, rootlets, or moss to outside. Female then carries mud from worm castings (compost) in bill. She kneads it by rotating body in hollow of cup. Too bad you missed this part!! Finally, female lines nest with fine pieces of dead grass.
Given the date, this is almost certainly this robin's first nest of the season - possibly of her life.
EGG LAYING AND INCUBATION
You can expect 3-5 eggs, probably 4
One egg is laid per day
Robins are unique among songbirds in the tendency to lay eggs in late morning, rather than super-early like most other birds. So.... You guys should totally try to watch her laying the last egg on Monday (via webcam)!!! Don't disturb her during that period or she might end up just dumping the egg somewhere else on the ground (can't stop it once it's in the pipeline)
Incubation starts the day that the last egg is laid (sometimes earlier but this is unlikely)
Incubation lasts for about 13 days after the day the last egg is laid - you do the math to determine your likely hatch date!
Usually the female will incubate for ~40 min (highly variable), stand up and rotate the eggs, then fly off to eat, etc... then return. The amount of incubation is greater during a cold day (gotta keep those eggs warm!)
The egg surface texture will change from smooth to leathery during incubation
Female birds lose the feathers on their belly during incubation, and their bellies become very vascularized to better transfer her body heat to the eggs (called her "brood patch")
Occasionally the male will bring food to feed the female while she is incubating (esp if weather is bad and she doesn't want to leave the eggs). This is my favorite thing, a true rarity to observe and so neat. Look for it!
HATCHING
Hatching takes 24 hours for each chick... the embryos start by making tiny puncture marks in the eggshell, in a ring, until they can finally pop through. They do this with an "egg tooth" which is a little spike on their beak. The female will carry the eggshell away (might eat it)
The nestlings might all hatch on one day, or on different days - this depends on whether she waited to begin incubation until they were all laid, or started "cooking" some of them before laying the later eggs.
NESTLING PERIOD
After hatching, the nestling period lasts for another ~13 days before the young fledge.
"Nestling" is what baby birds are called. "Chick" is a term reserved for chickens specifically (and duckling for duck, gosling for goose, etc... maybe "robling" would be cute for robin?)
Both parents will feed nestlings during the entire nestling period. They will make ~6-7 trips to the nest with food per hour. They typically only feed a single nestling per trip to the nest.
Food consists of soft invertebrates such as beetle grubs and parts of earthworms, but may be 30% plant material
Female broods young (sits on them to keep them warm, like incubation of eggs) for first few days after hatching until the nestlings develop homeothermy, but she does not usually remain on the nest at night after the first week
Young are fed regurgitated food for first 4 days after hatching.
Eyes open on day 5!
Nestlings compete by begging. Parents are more likely to feed nestling that starts begging earlier, extends its neck higher, and holds its beak closer to parent’s beak.
As nestlings grow, they might "jockey for position" in the nest. The amount of movement in the nests depends on if the parents always arrive with food on the same side of the nest (fight for the best spot), or if they mix it up so that there is no "best position" (just stay put).
With each feeding, nestling produces a fecal sac (poop in a nice little package, so it's not messy). When the nestlings are young, the parents usually eat these fecal sacs to keep the nest clean. When they are about a week old, they may start just carrying them away instead. Don't want to eat TOO much poop!
FLEDGING AND AFTER
The nestlings will leave the nest ("fledge") on about day 13 after hatching. Sometimes one will leave first, and the rest within 24 hours or so after that.
The nestlings won't fly well until they are almost 2 weeks out of the nest, so they do a lot of hiding.
The nestlings will wander within 150 m of the nest for up to 3 weeks after fledging. The parents will follow them around and continue to feed them while they learn to find food for themselves. The female does this at first, but then the male takes over this duty while the female starts on the next nest.
NEST FAILURE
Bird mortality is very high during the juvenile period, after the nestlings have fledged the nest. Few will survive during that first fall and winter, to breed the next spring. That's why birds can have so many offspring (4 per nest, often 2-3 successful nests per year), yet the populations usually remain stable over time.
Cats are the #1 predator of nestlings and juveniles. Cats are invasive, meaning they aren't a naturally occurring wild animal in North America. Thus, none of the native bird species had the opportunity to co-evolve with them and learn defenses against them. That is why you should keep all cats indoors and spay/neuter all cats.
If the nest gets destroyed by a cat or another predator (hawk, owl, snake, mouse, squirrel....), the female can usually build a new one in 2-3 days.
Old nests are sometimes re-used (with or without adding a new lining) but this is uncommon - she will probably build a new one someplace else once this nest is done.
Robin Data Gathered From: Sallabanks, Rex and Frances C. James. 1999. American Robin (Turdus migratorius), The Birds of North America Online (A. Poole, Ed.). Ithaca: Cornell Lab of Ornithology; Retrieved from the Birds of North America Online: http://bna.birds.cornell.edu/bna/species/462 doi:10.2173/bna.462