What happened to my robins? (1 Viewer)

Hi everyone, I am new here so I apologize if this is a common question. I watched two robins built a nest on my fence the first weekend of April. The female stayed on the nest very soon after. I became fascinated with the idea that I would have baby robins in my back yard soon. Then, on Saturday I saw the parents feeding the babies! Yay! They hatched! I then got home really late on Saturday night and I didn't see the mother in the nest. Of course, it was dark and I figured I just couldnt make her out. Then today I was looking forward to sitting outside and watching the proud parents. I kept checking out the window but I never saw either of the parents. Hoping I was just missing them, I sat outside for awhile and still no parents. Then, around lunch I saw a finch come and PULL PART OF THE NEST AWAY! I assume that the babies have been harmed and this is the end of my bird watching. I'm just amazed that after two weeks of watching the adults watch and defend the nest so diligently that something could have happened so soon after they were hatched. Before there was never a moment that the mama bird was away from the nest more than a few minutes and I saw the daddy bird confront other birds several times that they were in the yard. I assume that the mother would not abandon the nest when they were both working so hard yesterday. I'm very upset my mama bird never got a chance to raise her family. Can anyone elaborate on what might have happened? Thanks.

Nest predation probably accounts for at least half of all nests of passerine birds between laying and fledging. It sounds as if the nest was very exposed, so there are a multitude of suspects. In an urban setting, domestic cats are the most likely - in rural and suburban areas it could also be rats, squirrels, crows, racoons etc. etc.

Thanks

It is a fairly urban area. The house backs up to a busy residential street. That's why I thought other birds wouldn't be an issue because they usually scatter when people, cars, or pets are around. Mama bird never seemed to be fazed by this. I don't think it was a cat because we don't have any around that I've seen. I do have a dog that will bark at the birds if she sees them, but again mama bird was pretty used to her and my dog was usually making the unwanted birds fly away. I guess something could have gotten to the nest very early in the morning while we were sleeping. It's very sad to see the other birds deconstruct the nest now that it is unoccupied.

It could have been anything - other birds, squirrels etc.