Mother robin takes up residence on front porch of local house

[Donna]

By HARRISON HAAS
Wednesday, May 19, 2010


With the early arrival of warmer weather this year, migratory birds are back in the Lakes Region earlier than normal and have been busy finding the perfect place for their nest.

One curious robin in the area has found the perfect location for her young, which happens to be on a bird decoration of Gilford resident Tom Space's front porch.

Each season, Tom's wife JoEllen hangs a new decoration outside of their front door on the bare wall opposite the porch light. For the summer season, she hangs up a decoration that has two fake birds perched on a nest with two fake eggs with artificial leaves and greens encompassing the area below the nest.

It wasn't until a few weeks ago that Space realized a robin had made a home next to his own home since it was hidden within the porch decoration. Space stumbled upon the real bird's nest by accident when he was taking his dogs out for a walk one morning. When he opened the front door, a robin flew away from the house but stayed fairly close and did not turn away from the house.

This became a common occurrence when Space opened the front door, which led him to check out what was going on. He said he never really paid attention to the situation until the robin frequently began flying away from the house and then came back.

"Every time I opened the door, the robin would fly away," Space said. "I got curious one day and checked the basket out. When I did, I couldn't believe my eyes, at first I thought it was just more of the decoration. I studied it closer and sure enough there were real eggs."

When Space took a closer look at the decoration, he noticed that behind the fake nest and eggs was a real nest with four blue robin eggs huddled close together within the basket. He never saw the nest since it is placed down inside of the basket behind the fake nest.

"She keeps an eye on me, so I don't get too close," Space said. "She doesn't venture far from the nest, so if we do get too close she'll dive-bomb us."

Since the discovery of the robin's nest, Space and his wife have stopped using the front door so they won't disturb the eggs or the mother tending to them.

"The nest sits low enough that it hides the nest and the eggs, but you can see her head pop up here and there," Space said.

The American Robin is one of the species of birds to lay eggs during the season and can lay between three and five eggs per breeding season, which is between April and July.

He said other birds have made nests around his house, mainly in the gutters above the farmers porch.

"We have quite a few other birds in the area, but I'm not sure if they have made nests nearby," Space said. "We actually have a menagerie of wildlife in the backyard."

Birds commonly flying around his house include cardinals, blue jays and yellow finches. He said they have seen other animals prowling around, including fox, bobcats and even moose. Space said he will keep an eye out on the robins and will be awaiting their hatching sometime in the next few weeks.

[Annette]

A lovely story.