A Day in the Life of a Robin

We have another robin's nest! This one is even easier to view - they built it right on the wreath by our front door. (Good thing we rarely use that door!). Last week Wednesday as I was leaving the house I saw a flutter of activity near the wreath and discovered a nest in progress. (see below)

When I returned back home, the nest was further along...

... and then a few hours later it was almost complete!

 Check out the moist, mud-like consistency of the bottom of the nest:

The next day, it was dried and the robins had covered the bottom with a nice soft layer. For a couple days we didn't see much action going on, but then on Sunday my nephew Matthew discovered the first egg!

Hmmm, do I trust you enough to fly back to my nest in safety?

At the time I thought to myself, "this bird has no clue what she's doing!" She was rarely on the nest and the egg looked like it must be stone cold to me. But then this morning I did a little research about robins and discovered that they lay one egg a day, and don't incubate the eggs until they are all laid (usually four) so that they will hatch around the same time (they may sit on the eggs for short periods of time or just overnight, but when all four eggs are laid they won't leave the nest for more than 5-10 minutes). Fascinating! But get this - while I was outside "studying" this morning, I not only got to witness mama and papa bird mating, but I saw her lay her second egg! 
   

After this shot they proceeded to the driveway to do a little "dance" together

I think she is laying her egg here!

Yup! It's a second egg!

What patience, dedication and self-denial! While mama sits...

Papa keeps watch over his mate and eggs from a nearby tree

We never got to see the fledglings from the first robin's nest - we were all away on vacation when they hatched and left the nest. Either that or a raccoon got into the nest :(... but I'm hoping that I'll be able to witness and capture the hatching of this brood!

This video shows the male bird chirping at his mate from a nearby tree. Sorry, I held the camera sideways! And my phone rang during the video... grrr... telemarketer!

**UPDATE: I meant to publish this post on Monday but we were having issues with our internet. I'm at the library now and will still publish this post, but just as I left this morning I discovered that strong winds blew the wreath and nest off the wall and the robin's three beautiful eggs were smashed :'(. He was chirping anxiously in a nearby tree. We secured the wreath and nest again but I doubt he'll come back. My heart breaks for this poor robin - we were so looking forward to welcoming baby birds and I had grown quite attached to the robins!