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JennGM
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| Posted: June 21 2008 at 10:39am | IP Logged
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Keep in mind I'm a city girl. After spending some time puttering in the garden, ds playing in the dirt under our porch, we all went inside. I happened to see a dead bird by the steps of our back porch. (And no, I didn't notice what kind. I have weak Bird ID skills.)
Dh went to dispose of it, and discovered two nests in underneath the steps. He wants to just knock them down, but I wondered if we should move them and if so, how and where? We have no trees in our yard. Of course, we need to check if there are any eggs.
And to top it off, I just found a tick on me. It was still crawling, but I just don't like them!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 21 2008 at 3:47pm | IP Logged
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I hate ticks too!! 
Can you watch the nests for a day or so or do they need to be moved immediately? If you can watch them - watch to see if there is any activity. If no birds frequent it - I'd probably save one nest for my nature shelf and set the other out in a nearby tree that can be viewed from a window of your house. Some birds will use existing nests for themselves.
Oh, I just re-read your post - no trees - hmmmm.....put them both on your nature shelf? 
How about a large bush in the gardens? Vines?
I suppose it hinges on whether or not there are eggs or not. That might decide everything. But then, I wonder if the dead bird was one of the parents???
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Jen Mackintosh
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Carole N.
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| Posted: June 21 2008 at 4:20pm | IP Logged
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Jenn, I hate ticks as well!
I am with Jennifer on the nest ... see if you can leave them for awhile. It will be a great "nature" observation for your ds. See if he cannot "sketch" the nest and the surrounding area in a sketchbook. I know that he is young, but you may be surprised at how well he can do! I think that it is really important to start observing and taking note as soon as they are able.
Keep us posted (and I want to see the sketches)!
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JennGM
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| Posted: June 21 2008 at 7:26pm | IP Logged
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I know, it's an awesome chance for nature study. It's not exactly a "problem" -- I posted that because dh just wanted to knock them down and I'm opposed.
Here are more facts: one nest is an active robin nest built on the ledge under our porch. The birds are in and out all day. We can't see inside the nest except on a ladder, which we'll try and do tomorrow to see if there are eggs yet. I know there aren't baby birds yet.
There's another nest that we think was in the process of being built and hence the dead bird (territory issues?). It was a smaller bird, like a wren.
We don't have big bushes either, to move the nest.
Just a safety question -- how close does a robin usually allow people to be near a nest? This is near my son's favorite play area (i.e., dirt pile  ). If he's right under the nest, is that too uncomfortable for the mother bird? That and compounded with waste issues has my dh concerned. He's not a city boy, but does worry about those things.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 21 2008 at 8:25pm | IP Logged
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Jenn - Found this and thought it might be helpful...
Quote:
Q. Can I move a robin's nest?
Please help! We recently discovered that a robin had built a nest in my daughter's 'fort' portion of her swingset. My husband looked a couple days ago and there was one egg in the nest. He removed the slide and the steps so that children will stay out of the 'fort' but the problem is we are moving in three weeks and the swingset will have to be dismantled and moved with us. What can we do? According to what I've learned by reading some of your information, the egg(s) will hatch by this time but it will still be too early for the baby birds to be out of the nest. Is there any way we can relocate this nest? Please help. I find myself worrying about this daily."
A. Unfortunately, no. If you move a robin's nest the parents will most likely abandon the nest, eggs and/or young.
Nest-site fidelity grows during the nesting season--the more time and energy the birds invest in it, the less likely they are to abandon it when disturbed. However, actually MOVING the nest is not merely a disturbance--it makes the entire nest environment DIFFERENT.
Is this because birds know to abandon a nest that appears to have been discovered by a predator? This is a part of it, but actually moving the nest makes it appear like a different nest. As the mother builds, she is memorizing all the features around the nest. When those features are gone, she may simply not even recognize her nest anymore. (I took care of four baby Blue Jay nestlings, well feathered, after their nest and its branches were knocked out of a tree in a storm. The people who found it all recovered the nest and put it in another near-by tree, but even with the babies calling, they simply didn't figure it out, and they'd invested a LOT of time and energy into these babies already.)
Thus, the birds' fidelity is to the whole setting. Interestingly, there is a documented case of a robin that raised babies on the structure of a crane that was operational during the time she built, incubated, and raised her babies in it. And another case of a robin that nested in a train car, and followed it when it moved from place to place. But I can't find an instance of a robin staying with her nest when the nest was put on another structure.
So, I don't know what to tell you about moving your swingset. It would have been far better to take the nest apart as soon as you noticed her so she could simply build a new nest elsewhere and not lose well developed eggs or babies when the nest would be moved later, since they knew they would be moving, but it's too late for that now. Hopefully reading this may be helpful to others in the future.
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Jen Mackintosh
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MacBeth
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The upside may be that the nesting season for robins is about over...by the end of June, babies should be out, unless they are late, which is not unheard of, but not common.
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JennGM
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| Posted: June 24 2008 at 8:35am | IP Logged
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Carole N. wrote:
Jenn, I hate ticks as well!
I am with Jennifer on the nest ... see if you can leave them for awhile. It will be a great "nature" observation for your ds. See if he cannot "sketch" the nest and the surrounding area in a sketchbook. I know that he is young, but you may be surprised at how well he can do! I think that it is really important to start observing and taking note as soon as they are able.
Keep us posted (and I want to see the sketches)! |
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I'm such a newbie as far as nature and journals and such. It's truly my weakest area (oh, and lack of self-discipline, but that's a different story). Dh didn't knock them down but decided this was a good idea for ds to enjoy. There doesn't seem to be eggs in the nest, but she's acting like she's going to lay soon.
Ds went on the ladder to report what he saw. I later asked if he could draw what he saw, so I could see it. I loved how spontaneous and happy he was to show me.
So I bought a simple sketchbook two days ago, talked to him about our plans for a nature journal. We went blueberry picking yesterday (first time for both of us) with a few 4Real Friends. He found the sketchbook and asked if it was the journal, and started drawing what we saw in our outing. His little blueberry plant with the different sizes of blueberries was just wonderful!
We have miles to go, but this truly was my biggest hurdle in my mind, just making the first step. Many times he shows frustration in not being able to convey in writing or drawing the way it is in his head -- and also problem with holding the pencils. It might be short lived, but I think he was pleased. We'll add color and other stuff, but this was a huge step for us!
In short, thanks so much for the suggestions!
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 24 2008 at 9:16am | IP Logged
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Jenn - that's so wonderful, and really a perfect way to start a nature sketchbook - in a very relaxed and natural way. It was just a natural extension of observation for him, wasn't it? And he was understandably excited to convey in his sketchbook those things occurring around him that he experienced and is living in a *Real* way! Yippeee! I know you were worried about this leap! How exciting that he made it for you.
And I was secretly hoping that your dh would agree to leave the nest! What a perfect opportunity for all of you! 
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Jen Mackintosh
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MaryM
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| Posted: June 24 2008 at 10:08am | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
| We have miles to go, but this truly was my biggest hurdle in my mind, just making the first step. Many times he shows frustration in not being able to convey in writing or drawing the way it is in his head -- and also problem with holding the pencils. It might be short lived, but I think he was pleased. We'll add color and other stuff, but this was a huge step for us! |
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monique
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| Posted: June 24 2008 at 12:45pm | IP Logged
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We had problems yesterday. We had a robin's nest fall from our huge elm tree. We had three babies laying on the ground. I quickly called MaryM because I knew she had posted about birds and we talked about what to do. My husband couldn't reach it with a ladder so he knocked down the nest with a pole. Another baby fell out!  He was okay though. My husband put the nest in a different spot and put three of the babies back. One of the first three that fell died. While we were doing this the mother and father were squawking around us. So I was hoping they were watching where we put the nest.
So we new there was a chance that they would abandon the nest but we were hoping....
Good news, this morning we saw mom bringing worms to three hungry baby birds! Yeah! We watched them for quite some time and then put pictures of robins in nature notebooks.
Monique
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 25 2008 at 9:20am | IP Logged
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Oh, what a relief Monique! What a great study in birding behavior you are all having - and with Robins! I love Robins!
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Jen Mackintosh
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MaryM
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| Posted: June 26 2008 at 2:22am | IP Logged
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monique wrote:
| Good news, this morning we saw mom bringing worms to three hungry baby birds! Yeah! We watched them for quite some time and then put pictures of robins in nature notebooks. |
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Very glad to hear the update with a positive outcome, Monique!
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teachingmom
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| Posted: June 26 2008 at 11:14pm | IP Logged
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We had more bird excitement around here after last week's experience. This past Sunday a friend was leaving my house and rushed back to call us all out front to see a young bird that had fallen out of its nest. It was lying right next to my mailbox. We looked up and found that the nest was way too high in the tree to replace the bird. After all my googling last week about baby birds  , I had some info stored in my memory that came to good use.
We got a shoebox and were able to get the bird in it. We tried lining the box with an old hand towel, but that made it high enough for the bird to start hopping and I was afraid that it would just fall right back out. Then I remembered a discarded nest in a tree in our backyard that I had noticed recently. It was falling apart, but still retained its basic nest shape. Dd got that and we put it in the box with the bird, and dh put the box about 6 feet up in the lower branches of the tree.
We considered trying to feed the bird and offered it a worm with no luck. Then we decided to leave it alone with the hope that the mother bird would find it (it was only about 8 or 9 feet lower than her nest) and continue to care for it.
For the first day, we heard the baby call for its mother a lot. None of us witnessed the mother coming to it, but I continued to hope. Thankfully, the next morning it was still alive. By the second morning, there was not sound from the box. I was worried that we were wrong about the mom caring for the baby and we'd find a dead baby in the box.
But the box was empty! And there was no sign of the baby on the ground below the box. So we are assuming that the mom continued to care for the baby and until it was able to leave the nest/box.
I got some great pictures and video footage of the bird. Another great nature study experience in our own yard. 
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JennGM
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| Posted: July 04 2008 at 8:51am | IP Logged
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Monique and Irene, that is just so cool!
We're enjoying our little nest happenings...I'm so glad dh decided to leave it be. We have to climb up to see inside. Ds saw an egg and one baby bird last week, we haven't checked this week. But we know there are little mouths to feed, because those robins are busy. It's so cute to see them hanging nearby, just quietly watching. They are so careful to see if anyone is watching before getting to the nest with food.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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monique
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Oh Jenn,
It has been great! The baby birds left the nest last weekend and we were privileged to watch all of them leave. We must have been looking at just the right times. They are still hanging around though. Last night we saw two of them eating berries in our back yard. Before they left it was awesome watching the parents come and feed the babies. They were so cute sticking their beaks way up in the air.
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JennGM
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| Posted: Aug 11 2008 at 6:42pm | IP Logged
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Remember our bird's nest? Well, I think our robins abandoned it. There hasn't been any activity for awhile, and we just found two unhatched eggs. Dh took it down, and now the nest is a photo opportunity.
I'll admit this is my very first bird's nest with eggs ever, and the robin's egg blue is just gorgeous. Carole will attest, blue is one of my favorite colors.
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Mackfam
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My absolute favorite color is robin's egg blue!
Sorry your nest was abandoned, Jenn, but how lovely that God allowed you to dip into nature study this way and brought it right up to your back door for your son!
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Jen Mackintosh
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Bird Problems
