Monthly Archives: May 2010

Robin nest!

by Amy Posted on 4 May 2010

I was so excited to see an American Robin busy building her nest in our front shrub last month. When I was growing up, my parents always had birdhouses on our property — but I’ve never had the chance to see inside an active nest before!

I could see her flying in and out of the tree several times during the day, and I wondered about her placement choice. There’s not a lot of traffic at our front door (we often go via the garage), true. But I wondered about the bright porch light we leave on all night, which shines right into the shrub, pretty much at nest level. Early last week I taped a covering over one side of the fixture, so we still have the security of the light — but it shines much less brightly towards the nest.

I first saw her sitting more or less constantly on the nest sometime in the middle of last week. Since then we have noticed that she doesn’t fly off if we use the front door. We can see her from inside the living room, if we crouch down to peek through the foliage.

American Robin on nest
See her? She’s right in the middle. (Click to embiggen)

With my camera’s zoom I can get a little better view.

American Robin on nest
oh hai! (Click to embiggen)

Last week I registered the nest site with Cornell’s NestWatch, a citizen-driven nest-monitoring project. The site has instructions and tips for observing active nests, and participants are required to become certified (by completing an online quiz) before joining the project. There are also datasheets for the focal species, which includes the American Robin.

Yesterday afternoon I briefly checked the nest. The robin was still incubating when I came outside, and I could see her (once I crouched down).

American Robin on nest
The underside of Ms. Robin’s tail. (Click to embiggen)

Soon after I started talking and fussing with my ladder, she flushed off. Four eggs are usual, but American Robins will lay 3-5. I reached over with my camera to take this photo inside the nest.

Eggs
Eggs! (Click to embiggen)

The robin was back incubating within about 15 minutes. American Robins incubate for 12-14 days; I estimate the eggs were laid April 27-28 so there should be nestlings some time between May 9 and May 12.

I continued to follow the nest during the following weeks. For further reading: Teeny tiny baby American Robins!!! | Quick robin nest update | These birds have flown

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Posted in Citizen Science, Yard Birds | 2 Comments

Birds, art at Ryerson Woods

by Amy Posted on 4 May 2010

Last Wednesday I joined the Lake-Cook Audubon walk at Ryerson Woods. Ryerson is a hot local birding spot, named recently in Birder’s World magazine as a top location for watching warblers. Leading the walk was Nan Buckhardt, The Lake County Forest Preserves’ Environmental Education Manager. As we began the walk, she mentioned that the trees and other area vegetation are one to two weeks ahead of their normal schedule, due to warm weather we had in early April. Over several nights it did not dip lower than 50°F, which triggered the plants to start doing their spring thing. That means warbler-watching will be extra tough in the coming weeks.


A trail at Ryerson, a bit too green for the time of year

Unfortunately the morning’s walk was rather quiet, having come just days before a huge south wind brought up migrants by the truckload. We did have nice looks at a Swamp Sparrow and Wood Ducks in a tree; a male Eastern Bluebird shone brightly in the sunshine for everyone. A few lucky birders also got to see a lone Black-throated Green Warbler, but I missed it.

Illinois listserv reports from Ryerson in the following days named many more migrants than we. For the morning I saw 25 species, including a few I picked up on another go round the trails after the group walk. My morning’s highlight was a close encounter with a deer, who crossed the trail towards the river right in front of me.

Later, when the Brushwood building at Ryerson opened up, I finally got to see an art exhibit I’d been wanting to see for several months. AVIARY, Artists’ Passion for Birds ran at Brushwood from March 7 through April 28 (I was JUST in time). There was a nice mix of bird art, from photos to paintings to sculptures, tastefully arranged in the small multi-room space.

The art joined permanent fixtures at Brushwood, which includes several Audubon prints and a great collection of 20 small bird dioramas. The dioramas are part of a larger collection of 900 bird displays, most of which are housed at the Field Museum.

I was surprised to learn that members of the public as well as educators could borrow the dioramas as part of the Harris Educational Loan Program. I wonder how often they are loaned out, and I wonder how often it is done by a non-educator.

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Posted in Lake-Cook Audubon, LCFPD | 1 Comment