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CTyankee

(63,769 posts)
Mon May 25, 2020, 09:14 AM May 2020

I must have a nest of robins in my maple tree...

both male and female hopping around every day! The tree is large and its branches extend over the car in the driveway so we see them a lot.

Sorry I don't do pix from cellphone but I researched the coloration of the American robin and we have both a male and a female. I am so pleased with this nesting of lovebirds! (I am guessing there are just the two, no visitors will intrude!).

Are they generally safe from harm during this nesting or are there predators (not human)?

11 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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CottonBear

(21,596 posts)
1. Outdoor cats, hawks and owls are all predators that might be in your area.
Mon May 25, 2020, 09:20 AM
May 2020

I’d worry most about any outdoor cats, which are devastating to bird populations.

Congratulations on your nesting robin neighbors. Keep us updated!

CTyankee

(63,769 posts)
2. I haven't seen any local cats but yes, these robins are pretty brazen so they must feel safe.
Mon May 25, 2020, 09:27 AM
May 2020

My husband planted this tree which is now immense and absolutely beautiful, esp. in the fall. The robins don't have any fear evidently because they swoop down on the driveway and hop around. It is the coolest thing! Hubby gets credit for planting that tree!

2naSalit

(86,050 posts)
3. I hope the nest isn't in the vacinity of where you park your car...
Mon May 25, 2020, 09:31 AM
May 2020

You might consider alternate parking for a spell. Just sayin'.

There lots of predators, rodents, raccoons, cats, several bird species from owls and hawks to crows and ravens, all carnivorous birds can be nest raiders. That's why they have so many young, some will make it and some won't. It's unusual for all the clutch to survive their first year. But look at it this way perhaps, if something eats them, that individual had a meal, it's how nature works.

They are cool to watch but they can also be very messy for what happens to be below the nest.

Cracklin Charlie

(12,904 posts)
5. We had a wren nest on our porch one year.
Mon May 25, 2020, 09:40 AM
May 2020

Their nest was beautifully woven, like a basket.

One day there was a little dead snake on the porch floor. In his belly(?) was a bird egg. The egg or something else had split the snake open. The wrens never came back.

This year, we have a pair of cardinals that keep flying up, and sitting on a ficus tree branch, and looking at themselves in a mirror that I have hanging out there. They’ve been doing this for two weeks, and they’re driving me crazy!

Arkansas Granny

(31,483 posts)
4. My robins have successfully hatched and raised their first brood.
Mon May 25, 2020, 09:34 AM
May 2020

Unfortunately, their next nest blew down during a storm. I found the nest and remains of 4 eggs in the yard a couple of weeks ago.

I think they may have another nest started in the same tree. I haven't seen it, but I've noticed activity. I wasn't sure if they would try again or not. Egg laying really takes a lot of energy from the female.

I've seen several birds with fledgling in tow at the bird feeder in the last week or do.

Coventina

(26,852 posts)
6. I have nesting doves in my (relatively short) palm tree out back.
Mon May 25, 2020, 02:03 PM
May 2020

They have two juveniles who look close to being fledged.



PS: These are white wing doves. (Although they are not primarily white, as the name might imply)

CTyankee

(63,769 posts)
11. I hear doves under that same tree in my driveway...
Fri May 29, 2020, 11:12 AM
May 2020

I wonder if that's the tree or it is another nearby...

csziggy

(34,120 posts)
7. Squirrels will also eat baby birds
Mon May 25, 2020, 02:11 PM
May 2020

My sister and her husband had been watching a pair of cardinals build a nest, lay eggs and feed their young outside their back door. They avoided coming and going that way to let the birds have the space. One morning my brother in law noticed one of the babies was missing. A day or two later, when he checked, he startled a squirrel that was carrying off another baby bird. Now all the babies are gone.

What is surprising is that on the other side of their house is a nest made by a pair of red shouldered hawks. The parents are feeding their babies turtles - my sister keeps finding cleaned out turtle shells under the tree where the nest is. At first she didn't put it together, but then she saw one of the parent hawks carrying a turtle into the nest!

She would much rather the hawks feed their babies squirrels, but the hawks seem to find hunting turtles on the little lake next to their house easier than hunting predatory squirrels.

a kennedy

(29,462 posts)
8. Been living in this home for 20 years, and for the last 6 - 7 years we've had a robins nest
Mon May 25, 2020, 02:49 PM
May 2020

right our back door. Through the window we’re practically eye level with the nest. So this spring our little house wrens have taken over the robin’s nest. Not sure how it happened as the robins have always taken over this spot for the last 6 - 7 years.....how long do robins live?? We wondered may-be the robins died and when the wrens took over the nest the robins were dead and gone. Another thing......we always knocked down the nest in the Fall because I always loved watching the robins build the nest every spring. Then I read that it took a lot of energy on the part of the Robin to build the nest and that we should just leave the nest and in the Spring the robins will just “perk” it up. It’s pretty funny seeing these small little wrens pop their head up when they hear us so small compared to the robins we were used to.

PoindexterOglethorpe

(25,746 posts)
9. Some years ago, when I lived in Kansas, during a rainy spell,
Mon May 25, 2020, 11:46 PM
May 2020

a couple of robins decided to build a nest on the top of a fencepost, maybe four feet off the ground, in our back yard. Apparently they decided during that rainy spell, that no humans were around. No wonder we call them bird brains.

Anyway, we kept a close lookout on the nest, and it was fun watching when the babies hatched. One interesting thing about robins, unlike a lot of other birds, is that the very first day the babies take flight, that's it. They're gone.

Where I live now, in Santa Fe, NM, some birds built a nest in the overhang in front of my front door. Every year I get new birds, sometimes a different species. It's quite interesting. Although, once again, I get an object lesson in just how dumb birds are. They tend to totally panic whenever I walk outside that front door. Dumb birds. Also, the nests (after a couple of years a second nest was built) are both total slums and need to be torn down and rebuilt. I'm not quite mean enough to rip down the nests, but they really need replacing.

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