Nesting Robins
09/12/07
Late winter and early spring is a very busy time for our Robins, with frequent squabbles and bickering. We had a half dozen birds all trying to establish a territory.Heres a typical aggressive display posture.
Typical dropped wing pose
After a while I noticed a bird carrying leaves and eventually I tracked it down to a tin bath hanging on the back of my garden shed.
The pair continued to defend their territory and pair bond.
The next step, while nest building was in progress, was to cut a hole in the back of the shed, to enable me to photograph the birds in action. This I did quickly between the birds nest building visits.
After a while egg laying commenced and I left them largely to their own devices.
I took just the one shot of the hen incubating, so as not to upset them at a critical period.
One morning on inspecting the bath from the outside, I could hear faint cheeping, the chicks had hatched and it was time to start photographing them again!
At this stage I didn't use flash, so the chicks heads are a little blurred due to the slow shutter speed
Once the chicks started feeding in earnest, things got easier and I was able to use flash.
The parents worked hard bringing food every few minutes.
I was amazed at the size of things, like this worm, that was offered and swallowed whole by the chicks.
The nest was kept very clean, after almost every feed a chick would produce a faecal sac, which was either swallowed by the parent or taken away in its beak.
This is the sight that the adults got every time they visited the nest.
The range of food offered was staggering.
Even food from a nearby bird table was eagerly taken.
And the chicks were never satisfied.
Except at bedtime.
Soon they began constantly stretching and preening.
Ready to leave the nest.
From here on they were difficult to track, but the parents could be seen disappearing into the garden shrubbery, beaks filled with food, and the constant high pitch wheezy squeak of young birds echoed around the garden for several weeks.
Finally they re-appeared in dribs and drabs, visiting a water feature in the front garden, to drink and bathe.
This one is just starting to get its red breast, on its way to becoming an adult, ready to start the whole process again.
The end.