[Chester]

Hello. Hopefully someone can give me some insight into this sad situation. Three weeks ago a pair of robins began to build a nest in the tree right in front of my living room bay window. I was afraid that the mother would find the traffic going in and out my front door and the lights from the room at night to be too much and abandon the nest, but she was very dedicated and sat faithfully on the nest.

Five days ago, from watching her behavior, I assumed that the babies had hatched. She flew back and forth continuously during the day, feeding them. The father, from the time the nest was finished was nowhere to be seen. However, he finally appeared yesterday afternoon and was feeding them himself. That is the last I have seen of both parents. The nest has sat unattended since then. Why in the world would these robins abandon their nestlings? I really don't think a predator got them as I have never seen anything wild in my front yard. We don't even have any cats around my yard. Any suggestions on what I should do, if anything?

[fugl]

It would be very unusual for a robin to abandon healthy nestlings, so the chances are that the nest has either been predated) or that the nestlings have died from some other cause. With regard to predation, lots of creatures rob nests: snakes, rodents, corvids, grackles. Young robins, like many juvenile song birds, leave the nest long before they can fly, but 5 days from hatching to fledging is too short a period for this to be a possibility.