Your Sightings! >>
Today's Report Includes:
- The Migration: Maps and Highlights
- Investigate: All in a Day's Work
- Journal: Welcome Home, Robins
- Your Robins: The Rest of the Story
Photos Wayne Kryduba
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Congratulations, Students! For almost 4 months you have watched the ever-changing Journey North maps. As you view these animated maps, do you see changes you did not notice before? Make a general statement to describe what happened as the season went on. Try to explain the underlying reasons for this pattern. How did the "pace" of spring change from one week to the next? What factors might have influenced this?
From Florida to Canada and California to Alaska, robins are home. The first waves reached Yukon Territory this past weekend, and robins are singing in Homer Alaska. Now the backyard fun begins! Here's one of many fascinating sightings you reported to our "Robin (OTHER observations)" category:
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How might the long days in northern regions benefit birds that migrate there? What disadvantages can you list for robins going the farthest north? |
On May 5, 2008, this backyard robin's nest in Minneapolis was suddenly busy. No more sitting quietly on eggs. The first baby hatched, and it was hungry!
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Photos Wayne Kryduba |
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For the first four days of a nestling's life, the parent birds regurgitate partly digested food into the yawning orange mouths of the babies. By day 5, the nestlings are receiving earthworms that have been broken into small mouthfuls. As the days go by, parents give the babies whole worms and large insects.
- In The American Robin, Roland Wauer says this food is 50% caterpillars, 29% earthworms, 7% ants, 5% flies, and 9% beetles, centipedes, millipedes, adult butterflies and moths. YUMMM!
- Fred Charles found that Illinois robins put in 15.5 hours a day feeding young in late May. Each day they bring an average of 356 pieces of food to the nest! That's quite a day's work!
Write the story of your backyard robin family! With the help of the Robin Phenology Checklist, you will know how to fill in these blanks:
We know the male has arrived when we hear him ____. The female comes later. She begins nest building __ or ___ days after arriving. The nest usually takes __ to __ days to build. She lays one egg a day for four days. Then she starts to incubate. She spends about ___ minutes of every hour warming the eggs. The young hatch about __ to __ days after the last egg is laid. Both parents feed ____ to the babies. The babies will be the size of their parents in ____ weeks. They will leave the nest, or "fledge," about ___ to __ days after the eggs hatch. When dad is feeding the fledglings, it's a safe guess that mom is ____________________.
Write your story in your Robin Migration Journal with a title that's your own. Add more sentences and your own drawings, too.
Photo Wayne Kryduba
Baby robins stay in their nest for about 13 days. Just about every time the nestlings gulp down some food, they poop. Let's see—that's 13 days x 4 babies x 356 insects and worms on average each day. That's a LOT of poop! How on earth do robins keep their nest clean? See The Scoop on Poop: Disposable Diapers for Birds: >>
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| Laura's robin built this part of her nest without something important. The rest of the story: >> | What did Mary find when she looked up at her garage ceiling? The rest of the story: >> | Their
teacher brought this robin to school. Her students named it "Sir Vivor." The rest of the story: >> |
Will you take a few minutes to complete our Year-end Evaluation?
Only with your help can we document Journey North's reach, impact and value. The information you provide is critical for planning new initiatives and for improving Journey North. Thank you!
We offer a list of things to watch for during summer, along with a reminder to keep kitty indoors for the baby birds' sakes.
- Summer Activities: Robin Watching and Journaling Suggestions >>
- Journey North for Kids: Robin's Nest Movie >>
- Explore: Eggstra!
Eggstra! The Story of Robin Eggs
>> - Ecological Mystery Literature Link by Jean Craighead George: Who Really Killed Mr. Robin? >>
- Journey North for Kids: Growing Up >>
- Instructions: Nest Boxes for Robins >>
- Lesson: The Scoop on Poop: Disposable Diapers for Birds >>
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