Breeding Season in Full Swing

Nests-Building Continues

A robin in North America goes through the nest-building process two or three times a year. Some robins can live up to 12 years, according to banding studies. These birds may have built 20 or even 30 nests over their lifetimes! Journey North observers continue to submit reports of nesting behaviors, including gathering materials for nests, as well as egg laying and feeding young.

Chris in Monona, WI: "Saw a male robin pick up 4-5 live mealworms from one of my feeding dishes and fly off with them. This is behavior I’ve only seen when they are feeding nestlings. Watching him arrange the worms so he can carry as many as possible is fascinating — it often takes several attempts involving putting them down on the ground and then rearranging them, presumably until he’s satisfied that he won’t drop them en route." (05/12/2023)

Pamela in Massillon, OH: "Nest update! All 4 eggs hatched! Mother bird watches closely and lets you know she doesn’t want you to peeking at her nest." (05/13/2023)

Cheryl in Monongahela, PA: "3 nestlings in nest on windowsill. Parents are always in the area hunting and watching the nest." (05/14/2023)

Michele in Royal Oak, MI: "Robins built a nest in our backyard last month and sat on the eggs. Three robins hatched. Today, the baby birds flew out of their nest! Photo is from last week." (05/15/2023)

Please Report to Journey North

Keep reporting observations of American Robins such as nest building, foraging, mating, splashing in bird baths, and other behaviors you're observing.

Also, are you noticing hummingbirds and monarch butterflies? You can participate in these and a number of other Journey North projects throughout the rest of spring and early summer as well!