The American Red Robins have fledged & have the dogwood tree to hide in while the parents find bugs to feed them

 Monday, May 27, 2024 - In my study of Phenology, the American Red Robin sets the stage in my Father, Bill's old white dogwood tree.

The dogwood grows outside my bedroom window and attracts mourning doves, catbirds, sparrows, blue jays, starling, cardinals, crows, and robins. Using binoculars for my failing vision, I get a front row seat to observe the robins every morning.

Their nest was over the driveway in the 100 year old silver maple. I know because every year they use long ribbons from balloons to dangle in the tree from the nest. Nesting: American Robins pair-bond during the breeding season. Both parents build the nest that is made of twigs, mud and lined with dry grass. Sometimes the nest will have string or ribbon that the robins find in the yard (see nest photo). The cup-shaped nests are built in a bush, tree or under the eaves of buildings. The female typically lays two to four light blue eggs. The female incubates the eggs over a two-week period and both parents care for the young. The eggs take around two weeks to hatch and the chicks will fledge when they are about 14 to 16 days old. The female may have two broods a year. The young are born with their eyes shut and first open their eyes around five days after hatching. Most birds actually can fly straight from the nest. There are only a few that are completely unflighted upon fledging. Robins are the main example, they leave the nest as nestlings, but even these nestlings will stick to the branches and wait to land on the ground until they have some flight. Babies leaving the nest is for their safety and health as the Crows from the north property that live in a 100 year old Spruce fly to the south property to attack the robin's nests. I don't like it at all. They eat the eggs. The nests can also have parasites so they abandon it to keep parasites off babies. Through communication between the parents and babies, they meet in my Dad's dogwood where they blend in with the brown gnarly branches and leaves. They've set up a particular spot where babies perch in the same exact spot to wait for parents to find bugs in my veggie garden and fly up to feed them. The babies huddle down and sit quietly until the parents return. I love watching the feedings. But this morning those damn crows flew into the dogwood and landed on the same exact spot where the babies hide waiting to be fed. This worries me. May the American Red Robins survive and remain here always. My grandmother Gill from Camborne, Cornwall, taught me about robins in 1963 when I was 13. So they've been here a very long time.