Birding/robins dead

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Expert: - 5/28/2007


Question
Outside one of our apartment windows there is a robin's nest.  There were three live chicks but now one of them is dead on the ground and another on is dead in a crook of the bush.  Did these guys try to fly and stumbled or did the remaining chick push the other guys out when living quarters were getting tight?  They have feathers and eyes are open.

Answer
Typically baby Robins leave the nest at about 10-12 days of age, before they can fly. Then the parents feed them on the ground for another 10 days or so until they can fly. There is a high mortality rate among baby birds for all kinds of reasons - starvation, predators, poisoning, cold weather, storms,etc. I don't know why these particular birds died. The remaining chick did not push the other chicks out. Roger Lederer at Ornithology.com

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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

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