Mating Season!

IT'S MATING SEASON!
Days 1-3: A robin spent 3 days building a nest in the planter next to
my front door (on the left side). Notice how close it is to the door?

The completed nest. I just have to stand in my doorway
and reach my hand out with my camera to take a picture!

Day 4 - Just before noon we watched through the window as the robin laid her first egg.

Day 5 - 2 eggs! Same again...she laid it right around noon time.

Day 6 - 3 eggs, same time of day!

Day 7 - 4 eggs! Again, same time of day!

Here is momma robin sitting on her eggs.
I'm only about 4 feet away from her!
I guess it's going to be awhile before I can replace my planter!

So, now the waiting begins! It takes about 12 days or so before the chicks hatch. Then it will take another 13-16 days for them to leave the nest. I will be posting more pics as I can, so keep checking in. In the meantime, we continue to use our side entrance as much as possible to keep from disturbing her. She sits on the nest for close to an hour, then takes off for a short time, and then returns again. After all the work she's done so far, she now has lots of sitting time! Although, I've read that as the chicks hatch, she will start building a new nest for another clutch. She will do this again probably one more time after that until August. So I guess it's good for her to sit as long as she can, when she can! The male robin helped a little bit with the nest building, and will eventually help with some of the feeding, but so far he has been best at keeping guard! He likes to stay close and keep an eye on things.