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Question about nestlings in a rain storm (1 Viewer)

Texastornado

New member
Hello y'all! I just joined and I apologize if I'm not in the correct forum.. there's so much on here and I'm lost, lol. Our weather forecast is showing very heavy rains beginning tomorrow and lasting until the next day. I've got an American Robins nest with 3 babies in a small tree on the corner of my house. I believe they opened their eyes this morning, so that would make them maybe 5 or 6 days old? The mama Robin takes good care of them.. but I'm worried about that storm coming in and they aren't covered well. I have looked around online and I'm not finding anything about if nestlings will be okay in heavy, pouring rain for what could be 12 to 24 hours. This is my first time observing a nest in my yard and I'm worried. Am I being a worry wart for nothing? I'm hoping this isn't mama Robin's first rodeo. Thanks for any comments or thoughts on this matter. Again.. so sorry if this is not the correct forum. Please direct me to the correct one if you don't mind. :) Thanks!
 
I have no idea what would have been the correct answer to your question. I'm a newbie as well. But I'd still like to know: What happened? Are the hatchlings doing well or did they succumb?
 
Well I know from my years living in the States that you can do heavy rain better than we can here in Europe - but my response would be that you need to let nature take its course. In most cases from my experience for birds with open nests one of the adults will brood/cover the young throughout any storm no matter how big the nestlings are, nor how long it lasts. Feeding the young is put on hold as they will die of chilling and wetting quicker than starvation. The location of the nest is important and if poorly chosen they can quite simply be washed away - in this case the brood is lost and the adults will abandon, and might try another nest if early in the season - with a lesson logged in their brains for next time presumably. In this way they become more experienced parents and are more likely to succeed. But like with humans there are good parents and bad ones!

I have been surprised many times how the nests/broods of small birds like finches with small open nests can survive really torrential downpours and severe winds.

Hail on the other hand ......

Mick
 
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