A Nest of Robins

I've been watching the annual progression of the return of the summer birds.  First it was flocks of starlings, then the Canadian geese, then sandhill cranes.  Shortly after the cranes arrived, the robins started to reappear, along with the redwing blackbirds. The first kildeer followed about a week later. Recently the ducks have been arriving in numbers, and turkey vultures were spotted, as well as a great blue heron.  Then last week it was bluebirds, yay!  I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of the major bug-eaters: the swallows (and bats, I do like bats too, even though they aren't birds).  Then  my list will be pretty much complete and we can move on to summer.  :0)

For the last several years, we've had robins and meadowlarks build nests under the deck on the back of the house.  We have a walkout basement there, and they seem to like building on top of the posts, but below the floor of the deck.  Which is kind of odd, since my bird books say that both eastern and western meadowlarks are ground nesting.  Oh well, guess I have 'not typical' larks, lol.

Last spring, a robin built a nest at the front of the house, right on the railing of our covered porch.  It was the first time one had built a nest that was accessible to me, and I took advantage of any absence from Momma Robin to snap some pictures.

Two babies hatched (face down in pic) with third egg unhatched.

 A face only a mother could love!

 "Feed me!"

 Several days old, starting to get feathers.

Two weeks old.



The day after I took the last picture, the babies fledged.  I'm wondering if any of them will return to the porch railing to make a nest this year.