You are here:
Birding/Dead robins
Advertisement
Question
I've been observing the nesting of a mother robin and her four hatchlings over the past two weks. All looked perfectly healthy. Two days ago, one was gone. Yesterday I noticed that one of the babies looked as if it were dying, and later found it twenty feet from the nest, dead on the driveway. Can healty babies become suddenly sick and die? How are they carried out of the nest once they die?
Mortality is fairly high among young birds - starvation, cold, rain, predators, pesticides, etc. They are not carried out of the nest, they jump out when they are ready to leave at about 12-14 days - way before they can fly. And they certainly can become sick and die suddenly. Baby birds are very fragile and perish easily. Not pleasant, but a fact of nature. Roger Lederer at Ornithology.com
Related Articles
Answers by Expert:
Roger Lederer
Expertise
Any and all about WILD birds - the science of ornithology. Information about birdwatching, ecology, conservation, migration, behavior, banding, rehabilitation, feeding, songs, binoculars, identification, and careers in ornithology. No questions about pet or caged birds, please.
Experience
Have a PhD and over forty years as a professional ornithologist - research, teaching, author, speaker, webmaster of Ornithology.com . Have written thirty scientific papers, three bird field guides, a textbook in ecology and two recent books entitled "Amazing Birds" and "Birds of New England". Have traveled to over 90 countries watching birds.
Education/Credentials
PhD in Zoology/Ornithology; Emeritus Professor of Biological Sciences; former Dean of the College of Natural Sciences at California State University, Chico
©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.