Expert: Miguel Rodriguez - 5/11/2009

Question
I recently discovered a Robin's nest on one of my fences under the eave of my house.  The first time I saw it, a robin flew away from it and I went and took a closer look, but made sure not to touch or disturb anything in the nest.  Later that day, I say the bird come back.  The day after that I went out to check to see if everything was good and the bird was in the nest sitting on the four unhatched eggs in the nest, made me happy that she didn't mind me taking a quick peek.  The next day I check again and from I distance I saw the bird standing on the edge of the nest and then fly away, I assumed to go eat.  Once again I did a quick check to see the eggs were in good condtion and not hatched yet.  Again I did not touch or disturn abything and stayed as far from it as I could, but still be able to see at the bottom of it (It's elevated so I have to clim the fence to lean over and see the bottom of the nest, its quite deep, quite an impressive structure).  Yesterday I went to check three times, from a distance and saw no birds manning the nest.  I figured my timing was coincidental, but I could help but feel protective and worried so this morning at 1 am I went out with a flash ligth to check, again from a distance and saw no one on the nest.  Early today, I did the same around 11 am and again nothing.  Checking the nest again real quick the eggs look fine.  I am hoping that its just coincidental and they have not abandon the nest, but I wanted to know your opionion on the matter.  How do I know for certain they've abandoned it and if they did, what should I do with the nest.  I sure hope I'm wrong, I want them to hatch the egss if possible.  Let me know your thoughts.  Also, this is all happening in Kansas City, Mo.

Answer
Dave, I think you should stop disturbing the nest and hope for the best. It is possible that the bird abandoned it due to harassment. Robins -as all thrushes- are very terrestrial, and it is likely that when you where approaching the area, the bird ran away through the underbrush every single time, while you didn't see it, and did so until it gave up.

The nest being empty at night is an almost certain indication that it was abandoned, since nocturnal brooding is most important because nighttime temperatures in Spring are still cold.