Ragged Robins - American Robin Nestlings

When I was photographing The Butchie Boys, it was spanking hot. After I had my fill of waiting for them to move, which they did not, I moved. I went down the road to turn around at the saw mill. When I did, I saw this American robin's nest on a support post of the mill. It's on the mill's loading dock! I had seen the nest when last I checked on The Butchie Boys, but I didn't think there was anyone in residence. What drew my attention this time were these gaping, orange maws. In the photos you can see the pink feet of one of them on the edge of the nest. You can also see that they have new, secondary feathers. They are just about to fledge. The little rascals are flapping their wings and stretching out of the nest, unlike the young eagles. This is the phase where the robin-ettes are apt to fall out of the nest. They've only got about ten feet to fall and would probably survive. However, this same area, which I have called The Magnificent Acre, is where I have photographed Red foxes only feet away from this nest. I'm sure the foxes know the robins are up there and are probably waiting with drooling chops for the sound when one thuds to the ground. If I were a fox, I would do the same. If one of The Butchie Boys fell, they would have about sixty feet to fall. They, too would probably survive. If a fox thought it had an opportunity, an eagle, even a young one would give it a run for its money.

     I'm so thankful that neither of my children fell out of the nest, though I was sure that they were going to. My son almost did, but grabbed back on just in time. He had his share of troubles with the law after committing childish crimes. He regrets that phase of his life and says he can't explain it; it was his way of learning to fly. Also, my daughter wrecked a car that we didn't even know she was driving. She was too young for a license and was supposedly practicing in our driveway. We were blissfully eating dinner and watching the evening news when the police came with those awful words, "There's been an accident." We were all so very lucky no one maimed themselves beyond repair on their attempts to leave the nest. These things were many years ago, familial ancient history now. Nonetheless, recalling them gives my heart a dark, hard twist, the terror of near to death catastrophe still close enough to boil up easily. I hope when birds have young teetering on the edges of their nests that it does not fill them with fear. 

 These are parents of the nestlings. They were being run pretty ragged bringing food to those demanding mouths. You can see that the bird on the left has Honeysuckle berries and a tender, green grasshopper. The one on the right has a mess of spiders. Below, on the left, the father has the earthworm that we've all come to expect in a robin's diet.

What goes in must come out! On the lower right, the mother is picking up a fecal sac deposited by her chicks. She swallowed it in one gulp, no chaser. We've all taken crap from our kids that we wish we had not had to swallow. Robins do this to keep the nest clean. Eagles just poop everywhere then move out when it gets too disgusting. I've had tenants in rentals do the same thing. That's another story.

Departure Day- American Robin & Pileated Woodpeckers

Pileated woodpeckers have a long, thick tongue for licking up the insects that flee from the holes they hammer out. In the top and bottom left photos, the red cheek stripe of the male is evident.
I had speculated that the young Pileated woodpeckers were about to leave the nest and I was correct. When last I saw them, they were doing a little practice drumming on the rim of the hole, as you can see in the bottom right photo. The little girl has her tongue out on the edge to lick up any insects which may have come out after she banged on the wood. Of course, this was just practice as little to nothing lives in a chemically treated telephone pole. They were also calling a watered down version of the classic "Kee-kee-kee-kuk-kuk" and a rasping hiss which was more childlike sounding to me. Their nest cavity was on Hermit Island where all the campsites are (I can tell you that now that it is no longer a nest cavity but just an empty hole). The wee woodpeckers will stay with their parents all summer learning to find food. They will be hungry, but not efficient at finding eats. So, they will be pounding a lot more holes than the adults need to. The campers will hear them knocking with what sounds like a hammer drumming on wood all summer starting early in the morning. "Knock-knock-knock-knock! Get up!" They left the nest cavity sometime around lunchtime yesterday.

At our house, across Small Point Harbor from where that action was taking place, an American robin couple had a nest in the Baltic ivy on the side of our house by the front door. For about a month, I had been watching the parents slipping in and out of the ivy until I could identify where the nest was. One day, they picked up their pace and were energetically carrying food with them. I knew they had gone from sitting on eggs to feeding chicks. In a few days, I could hear the little rascals, too. I had expected that any day now, there would be silence because they, too would be leaving home. And sure enough! I heard this tremendous racket of alarm calling out in the yard. I grabbed the camera and went to investigate. Our dog, Perry was sitting on the lawn looking at this young robin. He had not touched it, but the parents were raising the roof yelling at him and swooping around him. He seemed quite confused and uncertain about all the noise. He is a Shiba inu. They were bred to flush birds from bushes, but I don't imagine that he would ever have been very good at that. He was curious about the little bird, but not in a 'lunch menu' sort of way. I took him into the house, then went back to watch the little one. Sure enough, he was able to fly a few feet on his own. Very much the dawdler, he took his time hopping and flying toward the garden. He disappeared and I saw his Dad reunite  with him in the woods. The nest is silent, now. I don't know if he was the only one or if the others managed to slip away undetected. That would certainly be better if they just got up in the middle of the night, packed a light suitcase leaving a note in the kitchen before disappearing.

Don't Fall In!

I took these photographs, yesterday, August 14th, day five from hatching. I have taken photographs every 24 hours. I've waited to update you though, because not much had changed. They have looked like newborn mice, pink and slightly downy. I've been surprised that the chicks have not progressed faster. I expected that they would have more feathers. It's supposed to take 14 days from hatching for them to leave the nest, so they've got some work to do! All three of them are alive and well. I haven't noticed that any of them are less vigorous than the others. That's good because it means they each have more of a chance. In these shots, you can see that their eye lids have a slight opening now. They have pigment changes in their skin. See the dark tipping on the wings and feet? They are stronger than when they were hatched and more demanding. They hold their heads up for food a little longer each day. That's a lot of work for them, like holding a bowling ball on the end of a noodle. Their necks are quite floppy. Their mom, who I call Clarise, is very busy gathering worms and caterpillars for them. She's on her own; the father finished his work long ago and disappeared. We avoid giving her reason to be aggressive around the nest, but nonetheless, she seems kind of stressed. She's okay, just really busy. As you can see from this open pit of a mouth, it probably feels like an endless job shoving food into that cake hole! Yesterday was my sister's birthday, the one who died. By the time my mother had three of us, she was at least as stressed as Clarise. My father wasn't much help either, after having gotten her into that mess. I know she was overwhelmed by her children. And, she would have two more, like a North American Robin that has a second or third hatching in a summer. I was the first hatching. Every one thereafter exhausted her further. My mother became like an ant that has fallen into a sand pit. There was nothing she could do but keep scrambling to get out, ultimately, to no avail. In the process of that, she stomped on some of her children, too.

What's In YOUR Head?

This stone planter sits in the ivy beside our kitchen door. We call it unceremoniously, 'the Head.' I had a plant in it that was struggling and I couldn't figure out why. Now I know it's because this robin was stomping it down while making a nest. She has three, perfect eggs. I'll be listening for chick action. You know I"ll be taking photos of them, too. It seems almost a shame that these beautiful eggs will be cracked asunder and thrown out of the nest to accommodate bald, greedy chicks. Our kitchen door has become off limits for a while. Every time we go through the door she flaps and flutters away, even at night. So, to keep her on the nest as much as possible, we'll have to go the long way around. Some say it's good luck to have a bird nesting by your doorway. Some of you will say that since she's a robin (Turdus migratorius) nesting in my head, and I'm Robin Robinson, that once again, I'm just full of myself.