Baby Robins!
By Corey • May 17, 2007 • 41 commentsThe robin that I blogged about earlier this week is now a proud parent! Either three or four eggs hatched and mom and dad are busy feeding the hungry nestlings.
A quick stop lunchtime today revealed mom incubating the baby robins, keeping them warm on such a chilly day:
After only two or three minutes she flew off. A couple minutes later either she or the dad (both have rather dark heads) returned and fed two of the nestlings.
It was a joy to watch and I’ll be returning next week with my macro lens, hoping to get better pictures. In the meantime, here’s one more shot of a proud parent (taken through thte window and screen, like all the picture in this post):
Great find. Look forward to ongoing photos of the proud parents and babies!
So glad to hear about your robins becoming parents! YEAH!
You seem to have the nack for getting close-up pictures.-Nicely done!
i found a baby robin in my yard that the parents have left for one reason or another,i left it alone for a couple of days,and just watch it,no return of the parents so i brought it in the house and started feeding it night crawlers its up to a dozen night crawlers aday,and thinks iam its mom,its doing verywell on its diet of worms and starting to fly,the question is should i release it back to its enviorment?or continue to feed it.
@Andy: I would do a google search for wildlife rehabbers near your location and ask them…if you can’t find one, make sure the robin has the ability to pick up food and eat it without your help (maybe by half-burying a worm and seeing if it pulls it out?). If the bird can feed itself and fly it should be okay.
It’s good that you watched for the return of the parents, but I have a feeling that they might have been sneaking in and feeding the young bird when your back was turned as I imagine an unfed baby bird would probably have died pretty quickly.
For the record, it is usually advisable to leave young birds where they are unless they are in imminent danger (in the road, being stalked by a cat). If they are very small and haven’t developed feathers yet it is advisable to try to return them to the nest if you can find it.
But good going and I bet that your experience has been wonderful!
we did watch the bird for two days straight,and left the bird where it had fallen from its nest for those two days,on the thrid day i put the bird back in its nest,it fell out again,so we brought it in and started feeding crawlers to it its up to about a dozen a day now and can fly real good,but the only direction it flys to is us or are golden retriver which it seems to like chaseing around the house,we tried playing hide the worm but it only wants to be hand feed,i read online that robins like fruit but i didnt discover which kind of fruit,i know the rules about leaving animals and birds alone so that their parents could come back and take care of them but this just wasnt the case this time,now if i can only ween it,that would be great iam speading five dollors every two days,but its sure thriving,thinks for the info sure will try more to ween it, its been a good experince but its not been my frist of takeing care of birds an animals,when i found the bird it almost lost all of its down but could not fly,so i would put the bird age around six weeks or so
Hi
I love all animals and I watch 41 nests on may 16 it was a cold day and 2 baby robins fell out of there nest I watched them it was drizzling and they were wet and scared my dad did not want me to bring them in the mom and dad robin were mad I can speak dove and pigeon but I cant speak robin what should I do we could not get them back into the nest.
My children found 2 baby birds yesterday and they barely have feathers or fur. I believe they are robins, my qustion is how often do I feed and water them, I went and bought some worms and they seem to be comfortable as long as I feed them at least every hour or so and i also give them water. I plan on taking care of them until they are ready to go back to the out doors. When they start learning how to fly should i take them outside or train them inside? Also since I am their mother now will they survive the outdoors when they become older? Thank You
My friend and I found (what we think is a robin) egg on the ground by a tree. We took it in the house and made like a home made incubater(Tuperware contaner-napkinz-heating pad). The very next morning (w/ the incubater on low) the egg hatched! Now we have a small newborn baby (what we think it is) Robin. We now have to feed it every 10 or so mins( if it will eat). We found earth worms today and last night. So we are chopping them up putting them in water then taking them out with tweezers, whistling until it opens up his mouth, and he takes it and eats it! Hopefully “Robin” will be healthy enough for us to release him back to his natural environment.
I have a robin’s nest in my tree in my yard, this morning one ob the baby’s fell out…they have feathers. They are about 10 days old, should I leave the baby alone or but it back in the nest, If I should but it back in the nest should I but gloves on so my scent won’t be on the baby…I don’t want the mother to kill it. Thanks in advance for the info……Cathy
@Cathy: Put is back in the nest…and don’t worry about gloves, the parents will not reject their young.
I just checked the spot where it was and its gone…there were 2 eggs that hatched…..I checked the nest and the second is gone too…is it possible they were ready to leave the nest.
A baby robin fell out of his nest (at work) so I brought him home. I have been feeding him now for about 6 weeks, he is doing really well. He comes and goes as he pleases, but always comes to my special whistle and is always hungry. I have been feeding him meal worms, baby food, and occassionally dried cranberries. All of which he loves. I have noticed that he has something wrong with one of his feet. It appears to be swollen or tumor like in appearance around the toes, and also seems to bother him. He tucks it up under his breast while he sits and gets feed. Any idea what this might be?
Thank You
i love birds
i had saved a baby robin from a cat. it can’t fly yet, and there are too many cats around to have left it out for the parents to come care for it. i have know place to take it , and know nowhow on how to care for it! please reply!
@Autumn: Do a google search for wildlife rehabbers in your area, or look up the local audubon society (they often know who to refer you to).
Good luck!
A pair of Robins built a nest on top of my air conditioner, which is protected from above byh the upstairs apt. deck and one side wall of the building. After I was sure the babies were grown and gone I was goine to put a fake owl on my patio so the birds would not return. My problem is that there are still Robins using the nest every day. Are these the babies still coming home to roost, or another set of parents using the nest to start another family?
I am not real pleased to have them there because I disturb them every time I open the patio door, and the way my apartment is configured if I use the main building door that also disturbs them. If this is going to be a new family I will wait to put out my owl, but if they are the first babies maybe they can be encouraged to move elsewhere.
@Margi: It might be that the adults are starting a 2nd nesting attempt, though robins usually (I think) use a different nesting site for attempt #2.
You can go ahead and put out the fake owl though, because they don’t work anyway. I have seen birds perch ON fake owls.
We have a nest of 4 baby robins outside our bedroom window. We have been watching them since they first hatched and have enjoyed seeing them grow. Today I went for a peek and one of the birds fell out of the nest! I jumped back and left it alone, but two minutes later I went to see where it had hopped and was going to return it to the nest and it vanished. I have looked through every bush and grassy area but see no sign of it. Would it have been picked up by another animal so quickly? I feel horrible and am very worried that it’s parents will not be able to find it. I know the babies are close to leaving the nest and when it fell out it flapped its wings pretty good. If it is somewhere close by, how will the parents know where it is and do they continue to feed it and the babies in the nest too??
@Jayne: Adult robins will hear the fledgling call and continue to feed it, if it wasn’t predated upon. And don’t feel horrible: even if it was eaten that’s how nature works. There are lots of robins.
Hi, a nest of robins fell from its spot on a deck to the air conditioner that is below of it. I came hoem and was notified of this, and also that there was a baby robin (we think, as there are blue egg pieces around) on the floor. The baby bird was apparently cold and it was chirping, so i put it in with its siblings. I attempted to move the nest back up under the deck, but I am afraid it may tip and fall over. Also, there are a lot of cats/squirrels around, so it was not safe to leave on the A/C. And, we think that a squirrel may have moved it, as my mother noticed one on the wall of the house climbing, and a cat was in the grass, so they must have been up to no good. I am afraid that they parents would have deserted their babies because of predators.
Just the other day, I found a nest with five robin eggs in it.
Haven’t seen the parents for a day or so. I hope that the babies
will be ok. I love all types of feathered friends. Please reply.
@Tina: Sometimes birds abandon nests. Sometimes they are killed away from the nest. I don’t know exactly what you are looking for in a reply, but I wouldn’t recommend trying to raise five robins from eggs.
This evening, the cat brought home a baby Robin. I like this site. The other folks who found Robins said they fed them worms. I will feed my little friend worms until he’s strong enough to fly away.
Today it was pretty windy here and a nest fell out of the tree. I believe it was a robins nest, there were 3 babies scattered all over the lawn, I picked up the 2 of them. They were getting eaten by ants so I did have to touch them to pull them off. And the 3rd had died already. There was also one egg there. I but the 2 babies and the egg back in the nest and tried to put the nest back to where it was…was this what i should have done?? The parents havent come back yet and I am heartbroken as to what to do now. These babies are still very young, no feathers, eyes closed. Its sad when this happens. Any advice? Should I bring them in and try to feed them??
@Jamie: Odds are the youngsters are done for. You did the best you could, and no fault lies with you (it is NOT true that parent birds will reject nestlings touched by people), but when birds so young have been lying on the ground they don’t have much of a chance. I would not recommend trying to bring them in: it would be a ton of work and very unlikely to lead to success.
Hi i found a baby robin sunday, its wednesday now, i took it home to my yard, the mom and dad come to feed it and i have also been giving it worms and holding it. the parents dont care that i hold it they still come and feed it. speck (baby bird) has lots of feathers and still some white ones attached, he also has a broken leg(right). he doesnt yet know how to fly, but is learning. and has learned to perch on my finger with his one leg. i want to know how long it will take him to learn to fly. as i mentioned earlier it is wednesday and we plan on going on a trip this weekend leaving friday am. is it safe to leave him here? his parents havent been around much today to feed him. so i had to feed him a lot today because hes acting like an oinker. please give me some advice to take care of my one legged speck
i love him and i feel scared to leave him home alone in the yard while we are gone. help
i forgot to add that he has like to bubbles of air on his right wing and i dont know anything about this, is it ok? im so worried about speck
@Emily: Your best bet is to try to find a bird rehabilitator. And, in the future, if you find a young bird that has parents coming to feed it leave it alone!
HELP! I found this (so cute!) baby killdeer that is lost. I found it’s mom who is looking for the baby but i want to return it to it’s nest but i have no idea where the nest is. I haven’t seen any other babies, so, what should i do? Please answear.
Hi Maddie - I completely understand your concern, but the very best thing to do is return the young bird to the area where you found it. Young Killdeers aren’t like robins or sparrows etc in that they don’t grow up in a nest: they are meant to leave the ‘nest’ (which is usually little more than a scrape in the ground so you’ll never find it!) almost as soon as they’re born. This gives them a chance to hide from predators (ground-nesting birds are very vulnerable to eg cats, foxes, crows etc) and learn how to feed for themselves by learning from their parents. Life is incredibly tough for small shorebirds like Killdeers but it really does stands a better chance of survival with its parents than without them.
Charlie
So… I have 2 dogs. a cockerspaiel and a Boxer, and there was a baby robin in my yard. While I completely understand that it is better for the parents to care for them, I have chased the little guy out of my yard all day just so that my dogs can go out. I finally brought him in and he is very young… younger then I had thought he was. he is still really pink under his wings and also has his “halo” still of grey feathering. I have cared for many other robins in the past with sucessful releases as well. but is it possible to take him across the road and down into the neighbors back yard, will the parents still come to him.
@Alison: I have no idea: you can certainly try though. Good luck!
I had a baby robin in my yard allday yesterday and the mom was following it around he could fly a little but stayed in my yard….well i found him behind the shed and all was fine…i checked on him a few times and then at one point he sat still and had his eyes closed looked like he was taking a nap! Then went back a few hrs later and he was dead not sure if he was sick or what he didnt look like he was attacked….any insight to this??!
@SMO: No idea at all: sometimes fledgelings just don’t survive.
Well thanks for the response….i seen the mom around him alot yesterday but as the day went on she wasnt around as much…..maybe she knew he was sick or something….but lastight had a robin calling out maybe it was her dunno but we picked the poor dead bird up and disposed of it…. again thanks for you response!
I was at my sister’s and noticed a nest on the ground below a pine tree with a 4-or-5-day-old baby robin lying listlessly next to it. I put it back in the nest but noticed that maggots were already crawling all over its skin. A couple of hours later, I heard some chirping about six feet away from where I found the nest and walked around to discover another baby robin. This one too had maggots on him but appeared to be in much better shape. The first one died a few hours later, but it seemed like there was some hope for the second one. I decided to take him home with me, and after extracting the final maggots from his ears he seemed like a happy baby bird.
On July 20th, he fledged — jumped out of his little cardboard nest on my kitchen window sill, and I came home that night to discover him chillin’ ‘neath the kitchen stove. Since then, he’s been hopping around my back yard, which he inevitably shares with my labs. I have a small, walled in urban backyard, maybe 125 sq. ft., though with many potted plants, among which he likes to hide, and a little compost pile from which I picked off some insects and worms for him tonight while he perched next to me. He has free run of the back yard during the day and stays out there in a screened-in dog crate to protect him from the alley cats that prowl around at night.
After he begins self feeding, I plan to take him back out to my sister’s house for the final stage of his rehabilitation. I’d ask my niece to continue with the same routine until he no longer returns. She has a big yard that abuts a wooded area, which seems more ideal.
Questions:
1) Do you think this is an ok plan?
2) If so, will the adult robins out there (maybe even his parents) attack this urban fledgling intruder? Also, will the transition from my little concrete jungle into the great wide open be too disorienting for the little fella?
@SMO: No problem.
@Ellie: It sounds ok to me but I am not an expert on rehabilitating robins. I would contact a local wildlife rehabilitator and ask them were I you. And, no, I don’t think other robins will attack the little guy.
Alright, thanks Corey.
Alright, thanks Corey. I will do that.
my baby birds look like your skin right now.Just 1 layer of skin from the bottom.When i put a little stick beside its hole mouth opend like i was its mother. HaHa!!!!