Robin's Egg Blues

High: 72° F
Low: 46° F
Conditions: Sunny and very breezy.

Ari has always had a soft spot in her heart for robins. Maybe it’s because her eyes are just about robin-egg blue. Or because spotting an early flock of robins was one of her first acts as a caninaturalist. Regardless, she always seems to give these lovely birds more than their due each year.

I wasn’t all that surprised, then, when she found a nest of robin eggs earlier this week. What did surprise me, though, was where she found that nest: namely, on the forest floor.

Initially, I assumed that the nest had somehow fallen from a nearby tree. But after taking a closer look, we both discovered that it had been built here—deliberately wedged into a rotting log just off one of our favorite walking trails.

We’ve passed by a few times since first discovering the nest. Each time we do, we flush mom, who nevertheless hangs out nearby and returns to her nest as soon as we are a safe distance away. By all accounts, she seems like an attentive mother. So what we can't figure out, then, is why on earth she would pick such an awful place to try to raise a family. She and her eggs have already had to endure the curious muzzle of a young dog. I suspect more expert predators will find it as well—particularly once the kids have hatched.

Without any answer that we can see, we thought we’d throw the question out to our readers. Have you ever seen deliberate ground nesting by a robin? Is our new friend on to something and taking a page from upland ground birds like the grouse, or is she just a naïve first-time nest builder?

Yours in caninaturalist inquiry,
K&A