My baby robins flew the nest on Sunday.
Today we finally took down the Christmas wreath where Mom and Dad Robin built their little home. We spent some time examining the construction of the nest. Look how perfectly round it is.
She built it right around one of the Christmas lights. Do you see it?
And she built a landing pad! How ingenious is that! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like that before. It was a place for her to stand while she fed them and cleaned the nest.
The landing pad was also used by the youngsters to take off into their future. I watched the last one as he stood next to the nest, and had no idea she had built such a grand launching pad!
Parents. They think of everything.
Change Is Hard 
May 30, 2011 at 6:44 pm
That’s the most beautiful nest I’ve ever seen!
Love makes life beautiful.
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May 30, 2011 at 6:53 pm
Isn’t that just amazing !! I don’t think I have ever seen a landing pad on a nest before. I wonder if they will be back again next year – I hope so.
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May 30, 2011 at 7:06 pm
Your robins were clearly geniuses. . .the Frank Lloyd Birds of nest builders! They are probably going to make a fortune in worms on their new launch pad nest design! Those young birds are going to go far….I’m sure of it!
♥
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May 30, 2011 at 7:22 pm
That is a very tidy little nest indeed. I can’t believe our robins are using last year’s nest, given its apparent squalor–but then, I’m only seeing it from outside and underneath, and maybe it looks better inside and from above. The “landing pad” addition amazes me. Can this be common? I’ll have to ask a few birder friends. Thanks for your great photography work here, Dawn.
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May 30, 2011 at 7:28 pm
Very cool! Our baby robins opened their eyes today so it won’t be long now. I have been so amazed at how good the mom and dad are – and it has been so hot but the mom sits there shielding her babies from the sun and she is panting and clearly uncomfortable. But such a good mom! I have never seen a landing pad though – they obviously needed one in the wreath!
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May 30, 2011 at 9:00 pm
Amazing. Loved the story and loved the pawtographs.
Essex
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May 31, 2011 at 4:04 am
Wow! Stunning nest, with amazing amenities.
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May 31, 2011 at 4:05 am
Wow, that was really neat. Animals are amazing.
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May 31, 2011 at 1:50 pm
Aren’t they so clever! We have a programme on tv here called spring watch that is suprisingly popular. They’ve got some live bird nest cams set up and they really are amazing aren’t they?
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May 31, 2011 at 7:30 pm
We are doing fine though the house is quieter. All the care from cyber-paw pals, the dog park, collie friends, family and of course my cold nose have helped Dog Dad heal. Making him write about it under threats of biting his arse probably helped too.
Thank you for being such a could cyber-paw pal.
Essex & Dog Dad.
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May 31, 2011 at 11:58 pm
Much cleverer birds than the mourning doves, obviously.
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June 1, 2011 at 4:22 pm
Very cool~~ a landing pad! I will have to check and see if our robin (on the nest below the deck) is that ingenius. We still have blue eggs. Not hatched. And the wind is blowing so fiercely today that the Dad Robin just sits befuddled in the grass, not knowing what to do next. Do you have ferocious winds too?
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June 1, 2011 at 8:37 pm
Kathy, I don’t think our winds are as bad as yours, though they are pretty gusty! And I bet Mama Robin knows just what to do! LOL!
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June 1, 2011 at 8:38 pm
Glad you’re doing OK Dog Dad and Essex. I’m sure you’re still hurting though. More hugs to you!
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June 2, 2011 at 1:37 pm
That is amazing! Glad they got off safely!
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June 3, 2011 at 6:52 pm
Really cool nest! I’d love to watch baby birds of some kind one of these years. I got to watch baby bunnies for about 10 days last spring which was pretty awesome.
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June 4, 2011 at 8:59 am
Karma, baby bunnies ARE pretty awesome! 🙂
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