Expert: Jonathan Wright - 6/15/2005

Question
Dear Mr. Wright, I have a robins nest in a tall shrub next to my front door. The babies are 12 days old today. I've been watching them since the eggs were laid and very careful not to disturb them. Today I open the door to get the mail and I must have startled the babies because all 3 of them hopped out of the nest and scattered about. The mother and another robin are very stressed now. The babies are almost as big as she is and they flapped their wings a lot while scooting around. Do they have a chance? I couldn't even catch them they were so quick. Is it possible they will fly soon? I feel so awful and guilty about this.Please give me your input as soon as you can. Thank you so much, Carrie

Answer
Dear Carrie

Thanks for your question and for your caring attitude towards the young robins. Baby robins usually leave the nest at about 2 weeks of age and will try to fly and become independent. I don't think the robins hopped out of the nest because you opened the door, so I don't think you should feel awful and guilty about this. It would be a different issue if the chicks were younger and fell out of the nest because you deliberately knocked the tree violently. I think that the chicks were nearly ready to leave the nest anyway. The parents are probably a bit stressed as the chicks are near independence and are not as easy to protect as they were in the nest.   

The chicks have fledged and are about two weeks old. Now is the time when the father takes two weeks to teach them how to survive (and may be one reason why the mother is more stressed).

If you are still concerned, please contact a wildlife rehabilitator (there is a link at http://kathyskritters.com/tales/robins/) or similar expert (such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) to be on the safe side.

http://www.howpeg.com/robinblog2005/ goes into great detail about robin development (a video camera was set up to film all the stages from laying the eggs to leaving the nest). After the clutch fledge and leave the nest, when 14-16 days old, the father will look after and teach the fledglings for about two weeks, until they become independent.

http://www.dnr.state.md.us/wildlife/warobin.asp says that fledged young birds begin to try to fly out of the nest at about 14 days of age. Often, young robins fly out of the nest before they can fly back. Their parents will continue to feed them and they will get the strength they need to fly back within a day or two. If you find a young bird in your yard that appears abandoned, think twice before "rescuing" it. If you can find and reach the nest, it's okay to put the bird back. Its parents will not abandon it. The old myth that birds will abandon their young because of human smell is a myth. Robins, and most birds, have a very poor sense of smell. If you can't find or reach the nest, check the health of the bird. A baby bird that is completely covered with feathers and can hop away from you does not need your help. It is much better off in the wild than it will be in your house. Sometimes other animals eat these young birds. This is a natural process and is in no way unusual or cruel. Often, humans "rescuing" baby birds cause them to suffer much more than if they had been left where found.

I hope this helps. Please note that the parents are usually the best animals to look after the babies and people should only take over if the parents have died or where the babies will die if they stay with their parents. Zoo keepers will only hand rear babies if the parents are unable to do so. Quite often, a mother has problems raising her first child, but will improve with her second and subsequent children. If people continually remove the children, the adults will never develop their parenting skills.

All the best

Jonathan