The background: A few days before I hosted my family reunion, a robin made a nest in the understructure of the deck over the patio. Normally not a bad place because we don’t use the patio, preferring the deck that’s off the living area of the house but the reunion was on the patio. We couldn’t see into the nest so we didn’t know if there were eggs.
We had the reunion, and the robin was not happy. She was hopping around squawking. I wasn’t sure if she would abandon the nest.
The last guest wasn’t quite out of the driveway, when she was back on the nest. We watched it for a few days. One day I thought I saw a beak sticking straight up but I wasn’t sure. Yep, that was a beak. After a few days we could see three beaks. Very cool. It was hard to get photos because of the position of the nest but we persevered. (Actually any animal babies would book my entire week!)
Once the little peeps got bigger it was easier. They had a lot to say, especially about dinner. I swear I heard one saying, “bigger worms Mom!” and “can you supersize that?” I never saw a second robin (that I could tell). Looks like we have a single mom raising her brood.
Here are some photos. There are three but it’s hard to see the third. The photos beg for captions!
Some interesting things to note. There is no bird poop on the patio under the deck (that’s the #1 reason given for removing bird’s nests). There isn’t a lot of squawking. Over the years I’ve hosted other bird families and the little ones are usually noisy. Mama made four nests before picking the one she liked best (maybe she should get the architect of the year award!). She picked a great spot as it’s protected from weather of any kind.
So how was your week?


That is awesome! Lovely little family you have living there with you 🙂
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Yes and now they are gone.
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How fun to watch them develop. Before you know it, they’ll be flying away.
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And I’ll have empty nest syndrome!
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🤣
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Good shots! And perfect location for them.
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Thanks. I did the shots but they picked the location! 🙂
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Oh, these are the most precious little guys!!!
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They are!
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I always find the construction of a bird nest nothing short of amazing. Somehow they find interesting materials and use their amazing construction abilities to create a home for those new babies.
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They do. Mouse nests are interesting too. I once found the Taj Mahal of mouse nests complete with fur from my cat to keep the babies warm!
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She sounds like an excellent mommy! And to have such well-behaved kids, you are very lucky!! Love the pics. We just got a birdhouse and are trying to figure out how to put in a tiny camera so next spring we can spy on what birds inhabit it. We don’t have a great spot like you do for that. Not sure if we can make it work though. No real wifi in the backyard.
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We used a wildlife camera at our old house but there wasn’t room to put any kind of camera. I kept asking for a colonoscopy scope to thread down between the floor boards on the deck! 🙂
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Ha, that would cool and funny!
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We got great shots of Lily, our resident deer trashing our pond!
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Funny, you should post them!
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I posted a while back https://coffeekatblog.com/2014/09/02/introducing-lily-the-party-animal/
and https://coffeekatblog.com/2023/07/16/random-3-for-july-16-2023-deer-reflections-therapy/
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The second link was recent and I don’t know how I missed it. I didn’t see it in my feed. Oh, well. Thanks, and so cool.
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Cute pics. The universal complaining mouth of the hungry infant!
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Yes, quite insistent!
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Aww…so sweet!
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Kind of like your hummingbirds!
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Cool! You got some good pictures. I love those little needy open mouths. It’s lucky that she didn’t let your guests scare her away. And surprising that she would build four nests before she settle on one.
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I don’t know why she built all the nests. Seemed like a waste of energy but I’m not a bird!
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How fun to watch them … my friend had a robin’s nest on her deck and sent my daily photos of the nest, then eggs, then hatchlings … I made a post about it. The first photo caption “oh mom, you crack me up!” The second photo caption “la, la, la, la, la … enough singing the scales, I’m hungry mom!” The third photo caption “me first, me first!” The fourth photo caption “what did I get myself into here, a single mom raising three brats!”
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Great captions! 🙂
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Thank you!!
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Great photos!
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Thanks!
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How wonderful! Pic two is definitely singing the song of their people.
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Yes! I call them the Robin-tabernacle Choir!
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haha! That’s funny!!
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You really caught some great shots! Well done. 👍
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Thanks!
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The first picture, I immediately thought what a clean tidy nest she keeps! The photos before the reunion with all the practice nests was funny. I think there will be a few more nests built under the deck… it’s perfect!
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It got cropped off but on the other side there are large strands of weeds or something hanging down. Seems like a happy family.
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How delightful! Great photos Kate 🥰
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It’s fun! We’ve enjoyed the watching from safely inside the sliding glass doors!
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Sweet! Glad the reunion didn’t cause her to abandon her babies or that perfect nesting site!
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Me too!
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Seems Ma Robin made a wise choice for a place to build her family nest. The cats can’t get to it so she and her babies are safe and they can entertain the the humans without fear of being ejected from their home.
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All true!
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How fun! That’s one busy mama… maybe she’s booked a spa visit for after her babes have flown away. She will deserve a rest for sure.
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We have a bird bath for her nearby. There is a bird feeder but robins prefer insects. I put out some blueberries hoping that may work. Not sure who ate them.
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Yay! Baby birds and action shot photos! This is the nightlight of my week, living vicariously through you I am.
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Glad to oblige!
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Mama bird must be working especially hard if her mate is gone. She must be very smart, too, tho have chosen such a good nest. It looks to be safe from predators, too. I hope she stays in the area when her chicks are grown and leave!
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We have a lot of robins in our area so I expect she’ll hang around and maybe try to use the same nesting site again.
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Adorable! So pleased that Mama Robin was tenacious enough to stick around despite the reunion. Kinda sad about absentee Papa, though. Have the outdoor cats in the neighborhood spotted the nest yet?
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I haven’t seen Izzi, the huntress next store in the area. She did try to climb a tree that had a bird’s nest in it a while back. Fingers crossed.
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Kate, for some reason I stopped receiving notifications of your blog posts. I have re-signed up so I hope that solves the problem. I wonder who else I am not getting now? I was figuring people were taking a break for the summer…
Anywhoodle…cute photos! Love watching this kind of thing.
Deb
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That happens to me too. One of my IRL friends, despite signing up numerous times does not get notifications so she catches it on Facebook. I post there too. I don’t know what’s up with SB but it gets wonky at times.
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Wonderful pictures! You’re right – if you had kittens in a foster room you’d never get anything done! Luckily baby birds don’t hang around as long as kittens usually!!
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They are also hard to see and interact with. Kittens would book my summer.
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