Setting the worms o top, in view of the nest, will help them figure it out, though the worms will quickly burrow down so you may have to do this a few times before the robins notice. This can provide wonderful views of your robins and give the pair an easy time locating food, if they figure it out in the first place. Some people fill a birdbath with potting soil, sphagnum moss, or another moist, loose substrate and add worms. This would be very beneficial if you get the worms from a reliable source so you can be certain they haven't been exposed to any pesticides. Q: Would it be beneficial to "plant" some earthworms in the vicinity of my robin's nest, especially once the eggs hatch? The best you can probably do is signal her-say, by whistling or calling out-before you approach too closely, allowing her to leave without panicking. She was presumably noticing your family's comings and goings when she chose the site and built the nest. Once in a while, a panicking robin mother can damage or dislodge an egg, so you're right to be concerned, but there's not much you can do. The robin scatters every time somebody walks by. Is there a risk to the eggs/young with constant disruption during nesting? A robin has built a nest (with 4 eggs) in a bush right outside our front door and next to the driveway. They usually build a new nest for each brood they raise during a summer. Their first nest in usually on a house or other building or in an evergreen tree or shrub. Robins are most successful where they have a good source of pesticide-free earthworms and insects, some fruit trees, and a supply of soft mud. So if they brought off young last year, there's a good chance that your robins will return this year. When they successfully nest on a territory, adult robins often return to the same site year after year. The structure of a nest is usually weakened over the winter as the mud and fibers freeze and thaw repeatedly, and some parasites may lie dormant in old nests, ready to attack the next year. Sometimes they do reuse a nest, but it's usually best to remove it so they can build a new one each spring. Would it help if we removed the old nest so they can build a new in its place or will they use the old one? Q: How likely is it that a robin will use their nest from last year? We were able to enjoy two groups of robins and we were hoping to see them return this Spring. This robin apparently found the suet to his liking, and knows he can depend on it when other food is scarce! I wonder if other neighborhood robins will notice and start visiting suet feeders, too? But his first preference was always mealworms.īetween years of drought in many areas and so many people using lawn treatments that include insecticides, earthworms may be growing more difficult for robins to find, and it's when they're very hungry or thirsty that they are most likely to expand their food preferences and pay closer attention to where other birds are getting food. that male also learned to take suet, perhaps from observing other birds. One male's nest was in a nearby tree, and he may have noticed the moving insects on his own. Some probably first noticed other birds carrying off the squirming grubs from a dish in my window feeder. In my own yard, over many years, I've had a few robins learn to take mealworms. Many neighborhood have so many fruit trees and substantial populations of earthworms that few robins have learned to associate bird feeders with food. Long ago, robins learned to visit bird baths, expanding their search pattern for getting water, and so it's easy for young robins to see other robins visiting bird baths. So they learn to look for fruit trees and discover ways to find earthworms and insects in the ways that robins have always searched for food. How do you explain this unusual robin behavior?Ī: This is an exceptional robin! Most robins learn a "search" pattern for food during the time they spend with their father after fledging, and then with robin flocks their first summer, fall, and winter. Q: I have never seen robins at bird feeders or suet feeders until this winter, when my backyard robin regularly ate at the suet feeder.
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