Backyard Robin Tragedy (1 Viewer)

This morning, my husband Randi watched a baby American Robin fall out of the large blue spruce just outside our back window. To us it looked too young to be out of the nest, but a parent robin stayed nearby and fed it once and attempted to feed it another time as we watched. So we left things as they were.

Later, we looked out and saw the baby's head down -- no movement, no nearby parent. When we went outside, we found not one baby on the ground, but four! The two least-developed were dead, the two others were still breathing but kept their eyes closed and weren't active at all. As the weather today is more like April 1st than June 1st (rainy and very chilly -- high 40's F), we knew that they'd soon die if not given the chance to stay warm. There was no sign of the nest on the ground, so we put them side by side in cotton fabric and wrapped a plastic bag under and over them. I was really hoping the little warmth would help revive them and the parent would come back and feed them.

You've no doubt realized that they didn't make it. We were gone from home for a couple hours and came back to find them dead.

::sigh::

Hi Sylvia,
I'm sorry to hear about the little Robins. It's very upsetting and you feel so helpless. I'm lucky that we have an animal rescue centre quite close to. The owner is amazing and rears all types of birds. Some of these are so young that he's the only parent they have ever known. Better luck in the future.

Thanks, Denise.

That must be so nice to have a rescue centre close by. Not that we're always finding animals in need of rescue, thank God! But i think if we'd had someone to take the babies to right away, we would have. Of course, i've seen nature take care of situations i thought were hopeless...

So sorry to hear this. It is always sad to lose a whole nest. I lost a nest of painted buntings last summer. Nature can be pretty harsh sometimes.