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A Question about Fledgling Robins

17 years ago

About a week ago, we found a Robin's nest outside our window in a Rhododendron Bush. All was fine until this morning when a couple of cars parked across the street from us and the dogs went nuts. The baby birds must have panicked and jumped from the nest. I know at least 2 made the leap. I saw one in the yard, but I was afraid to approach it to put it back into the nest. It can fly low to the ground, it seems to have lost all it's tufted feathers and I think the parents are close by because I could hear the Robin's alert call when I was approaching. So I am being careful about the letting the dogs out. They are being supervised when out.

Should I try to catch the baby I saw and put it back, or just hope for the best and be vigilant with the dogs. I was so upset by this because this is the first time I have ever had a bird's nest so close that I could see the babies. Being a city transplant to the suburbs, I have really enjoyed seeing the local birds and starting to learn about them. I feel like a total failure...

Thanks

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Comments (4)

chris8796
17 years ago
What your doing is fine, just limit the dogs access. Most birds have limited flying ability when they fledge and must survive a day or two on the ground before they master flying. Some birds routinely fledge up to a week before the can fly. Whats a parent to do, you can't tell teenagers nothing? They already know everything and yet they some how survive.
feather_z9_ncacoast
17 years ago
It's better to allow the babies to explore on their own; the parents will take good care of them, and eventually, they will be lured into a bush for safety until they attain complete flight. Keep in mind, too, that only about 1% of this year's offspring (in the wild) will survive their first year. So far, it sounds like you're doing great; don't feel like a failure; if there had been a fox, weasel, squirrel, bobcat, jay, crow, or other natural predator around, the parents would have still found a way to protect most if not all, of their babies.
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cdm317
Original Author
17 years ago
Thank you so much for responding. I am not allowing the dogs to be out without supervision.
Thank you again for your quick response. I feel so much better now.
cdm
rachel_frome_ky
17 years ago
Our Robins, which up to this year have been nesting twice a year on our deck, decided to nest 3 ft from the ground in the honeysuckle by the horse pasture.

Now that the babies have hatched, my new shelter Jack Russell terrier that we recently adopted, can hear the sounds and springs into action, trying to leap up and grab the nest. It is wrapped in honeysuckle, but that little hunt terrier is a highly energetic vermin hunter. So far I've stopped him before he got very far, and let him know he's NOT to bother the nest, but it's an extra worry to me that I have to keep tight watch on Jasper until the babies can fly. I keep him in the house or on the fenced deck when he's not with me, but that's a long time for us not to make a mistake and let him out of our sight.

I grumbled to DuBois that building a nest so low was unwise and that I wish those Robins had used the old nest on the deck beams again so the babies would be safer. But with Jasper on the deck so much, the fledglings would have to be quick even then

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