[Update: The robin watch is over.  Duties called us away for four days, and in that time, all three chicks up and flew away.  Bad timing - but the nest remains for use - next year?]

It’s getting a bit more difficult to follow our daily robin hatchling updates, so we’re changing the strategy a bit.  One post, that we will update with an additional picture or two every day.  We’ll keep the latest picture on top to make it easier to keep track of.

Comments are welcome… !

[Latest Update Day 8, 5/29/2009]

Day 8:

The nest is looking a bit crowded – and we’re definitely not candidates for a beauty pageant yet.  ”So ugly they’re cute” is one way to put it, I suppose.

Day 7:

Eyes are open now…

Day 6:

Finally got a picture of one of those mouths wide open!

Day 5

Five-day old hatchlings are now clearly showing signs of feathers growing in.  They have about filled the nest, meaning they are perhaps three or four times the body mass they were when they hatched less than a week ago.  Their two parents – I can’t tell who is Mom and who is Dad – have pretty much a full time job going back and forth to feed them.  However, I suppose because of our relatively cool weather right now (in the 50’s this morning) most of the time when I examine the nest they have heads buried under each other.

Today’s picture …

Day 3

Day 3 of the great Wisconsin Robin watch… we’re growing fast (compare the size of these hatchlings with yesterday’s post). [Picture date 5/24/2009 3:24 pm.]

Day 2

A third hatchling has joined the other two.  Picture as of 8:20 am May 23, 2009.  (What happens to the eggshells?  Any ornithologists out there?)

Day 1

Two of three baby robins have hatched, as of 1:20 pm on May 22.  (First post on this story is here.)

The Nest (the day before hatching begins):

Right outside my backdoor is a light fixture.  Hasn’t worked for a number of years, doesn’t seem to feel like a priority to fix it right now.  Just as well – a pair of robins have decided this is a great spot to raise their children.  Sheltered from the rain, relatively protected from predators.  The only real disadvantage seems to be these pesky humans who will keep coming in and out of the door below.

Anyway, watching these eggs turn into birds and fly away in more or less real time seems like a fun thing to break up the monotony of words for a while.  So here’s what the nest looks like on this date – May 19, 2009, at 9:45 am CDT.

Stay tuned!

Today’s picture (previous posts – click on the “robins” tag)…

]]> http://www.ourfathersworld.org/2009/05/26/spring-in-wisconsin-robin-watch-day-6/feed/ 0 http://www.ourfathersworld.org/2009/05/24/spring-in-wisconsin-4-growing-fast/ http://www.ourfathersworld.org/2009/05/24/spring-in-wisconsin-4-growing-fast/#comments Sun, 24 May 2009 22:30:01 +0000 Ed http://www.ourfathersworld.org/?p=194 Day 3 of the great Wisconsin Robin watch… we’re growing fast (compare the size of these hatchlings with yesterday’s post here). [Picture date 5/24/2009 3:24 pm.]

Here’s an elargement showing essentially undeveloped eyes and (very developed) beak on one of the three chicks:

Previous pictures: Hit “Robins” on the tag list…

Anyway, watching these eggs turn into birds and fly away in more or less real time seems like a fun thing to break up the monotony of words for a while.  So here’s what the nest looks like on this date – May 19, 2009, at 9:45 am CDT.

Stay tuned!

[Maybe we'll hook up a webcam... wouldn't that be fun?]

]]> http://www.ourfathersworld.org/2009/05/19/spring-comes-to-wisconsin-part-i/feed/ 0