The New Birder Experience is all about observing and learning about birds. As fun as it is to build up a large list of birds on a hike, I’ve found that it is much more fun for both Stacia and I when we just plain watch birds being birds.
Over the last couple of weeks Stacia has discovered several American Robin nests, packed with crazy cute babies begging for food. One nest had newly hatched birds that inexplicably vanished overnight. There was no sign of struggle and we are unsure what happened.
However, she quickly discovered a second nest by her house that also had small babies.
Each nest had three babies (which meets the average 3-5 eggs of robin nests). According to All About Birds, the young will be able to leave the nest after 13 days. Only 40% of nests successfully produce fledglings and only 25% of these will survive until November. [Read more about the American Robin's life history.]
These robin babies were found nesting in a picnic table umbrella at Stacia’s workplace around May 18th and are now gone.
American Robins are abundant but their commonness makes them easy to observe. These observations can easily lead to further investigations into bird behavior of other birds and an increased general interest in all wildlife. Never underestimate the power of the common to enhance the new birder experience.
