Robin Nest On Garden Hoe

by Kathy Iredale
(Port Angeles, WA)

Mom (or Dad) sitting on nest

My husband first found the nest. He would walk out through our gate to his pick-up and wonder why Robins were diving him.

Then one day he noticed straw hanging down from his tools that were hung on the side of his garage. He looked up and to his surprise there was a nest.

Once we knew the nest was there we tried hard not to go in the back yard. We didn't want to scare them away. That was impossible of course.

We did wait until the nest was empty whenever possible. It did seem like they got use to us coming and going as they didn't fly away as much.

Eventually my curiosity got the best of me and I had to see how many eggs were in the nest. First I just laid a ladder against the garage. Then I waited a couple days and climbed up to have a look.

My husband told me I shouldn't but if I had to to make sure I didn't touch the nest or eggs. I told him I was smart enough not to do that. There were 3 blue eggs inside.

Then we waited and waited. So afraid mom hadn't sat on the eggs enough because of us. One day I looked out our bathroom window and either mom or dad was in the nest and there was this little creature with the biggest mouth wide open.

It was the best thing ever. Once again I had to climb the ladder. This time to make sure there were 3 babies. There were.

It was so cool watching these little babies. Then we went camping for a week. Got back today and the nest is empty.

We know very little about birds. I have a bird feeder outside our living room window and I also put feed on the window ledge. It's like having an ever changing bird cage.

We also have a hummingbird feeder but that's the extent of it. Will our birds come back to use this nest again? I need to know if I have to start saving to buy my husband new tools.