Contributed by Ornithologist Laura Erickson

Includes:

• physical characteristics
• behavior
• nestling to fledgling
• care of young

Q. How much do newly-hatched robins weigh?

A. 5.5 grams--a little less than a quarter.

Q. How long does it take for a baby robin to hatch from its egg?

A. The first baby hatches 12-14 days after the last egg is laid. Eggs usually hatch a day apart, in the order they were laid.

Q. How do babies hatch from the eggs?

A. Hatching can take all day. Each chick must fight its way out of the egg. First it breaks a hole in the shell with its egg tooth, a hook on its beak. Then the baby pokes, stretches, and struggles inside the egg, with many stops to rest. Finally it breaks free.

Q. How do baby robins eat?

A. For the first four days of a nestling's life, the parent birds regurgitate partly digested food into each baby's mouth. By five days of age, the nestlings get earthworms that parents break into small mouthfuls. The babies eat more each day. Soon parents give them whole worms and large insects. Each young robin may eat 14 feet of earthworms in a two-week nest life—and worms are not even their main food!

Q. Who feeds the baby robins?

A. Both parents feed the babies. A robin might make 100 feeding visits to its nest each day. There's no time to go far on a food hunt. That's why a good territory is important to robins in spring.

Q. How fast do baby robins grow?

A. Baby robins are helpless at birth but grow fast! They reach the size of their parents after just two weeks!

Q. Who takes care of the babies?

A. Both parents have full-time jobs. They protect the nest, find food, and feed hungry babies. The babies are in the nest for at least 9 days, or as long as 16 days.

Q. When do babies leave the nest?

A. Baby robins jump from their nest when they are about 13 days old. Leaving the nest is called fledging. This is a dangerous time for baby robins. They need time—and safe places—to practice flying. Please keep kitty indoors!

Q. When do robin babies learn how to fly?

A. Baby robins can't fly well when they leave the nest. They must build up muscles and grow adult feathers to be strong fliers. The babies are capable fliers just 10-15 days after fledging.

Q. When do babies leave the nest?

A. Baby robins are ready to leave the nest when they are about 13 days old. Within 24 hours the nest will be empty.

Q. Are babies independent when they leave the nest?

A. No. Once babies fledge, both parents still feed them for a few days. Mom soon leaves to lay a new clutch of eggs. The fledglings will need to learn from other robins when Dad leaves to help with new nestlings.

Q. How do baby robins recognize their parents?

A. When they first hatch, they probably don't! They know the parents have arrived with food by the "bounce" they feel on the nest, and on a sunny day by the shadow their parents make over them. This is their signal to pop up with their mouths open. Little by little, they start learning the sounds their parents make, too. By the time their eyes open, they already know their parents' voices.

Q. How do baby robins keep their nest clean?

A. Baby robins produce their poop in fecal sacs, encased in strong membranes so they don't leak. To learn more, see our Fecal Sac Lesson.

Q. When do young robins learn to fly?

A. Baby robins jump from their nest when they are about 13 days old. It takes them another 10-15 days to become strong fliers and independent birds.

Q. What three things does a baby robin know as soon as it hatches?

A. The nestling knows to sit very still when its parents are away, to pop up and open its mouth to beg for food the moment its parents return, and to poop as soon as it swallows some food.

Q. How do baby robins recognize their parents?

A. When they first hatch, they probably don't! They know the parents have arrived with food by the "bounce" they feel on the nest, and on a sunny day by the shadow their parents make over them. This is their signal to pop up with their mouths open. Little by little, they start learning the sounds their parents make, too. By the time their eyes open, they already know their parents' voices.

Q. How do baby robins keep their nest clean?

A. They produce their poop in fecal sacs, encased in strong membranes so they don't leak.

Q. What should I do if I find an injured or abandoned a baby robin?

A. It is against state and federal laws in the United States to possess any wild native American bird in captivity. Raising a wild bird is only legally entrusted to licensed rehabilitators. It is impossible to save every injured or abandoned bird. The most important thing to remember is to get it to a licensed rehabilitation center as soon as possible.

Q. Why has the mother stopped sitting on the nest at night?

A. By the time the babies are about a week old, the nest is getting crowded, and the babies are capable of keeping themselves warm, all snuggled together. At this point the mother robin starts sleeping on a tree branch again. If she is a wary mother, you might not see her feeding the young because robins are so fearful of alerting predators that they simply don't go near the nest if they notice anyone observing them.

Q. When a nestling falls from the nest, can I put it back?

After a big windstorm, I found two very small baby robins on the ground under their nest. I'm afraid if I pick them up, the smell of my hands will make their parents abandon them. Can I handle them with gloves?

A. Robins identify their babies the way we humans recognize ours-by sight and sound, not by smell. So if you can safely put the babies back in the nest, go ahead!

Q. What do baby robins look like when they hatch from eggs?

A. Baby robins are colorful. Their skin in bright light may appear yellowish, and is transparent enough that it's possible to see a baby robin's green gall bladder, purplish-red liver, and orange yolk sac right through the skin! A newly-hatched robin has only a few tufts of fluff. The down feathers grow in quickly. This layer of soft feathers makes the nestling look fluffy and helps keep it warm when mother is away. How do body feathers grow? Each feather looks like a miniature straw at first. Then, that smooth outer case—the sheath—crumbles and allows the developing feather to open. In about 14 days the baby robin is covered with body feathers. Baby robins are born with their eyes closed. Eyes remain shut for about five days.

Q. Why are baby robins ugly at first?

Yesterday the beautiful blue eggs hatched, and when my children saw the babies, they were surprised at how ugly they are! They've seen fluffy baby ducks and chickens but these robins don't look anything like that!

A. The reason ducklings and chicks are cuter than newly hatched robins is that they are actually older than robins when they hatch out! Most mother ducks and birds related to chickens nest on the ground, and lay a dozen or so eggs. If those babies hatched out helpless like robins, their calls and movements could quickly attract predators. It's much easier and safer for the female to quietly enter and leave the nest alone, and incubate for a few weeks longer, until the babies are strong enough to follow her out of the nest as soon as they hatch. It would be very difficult for a mother duck or chicken to find and bring enough food for so many babies all by herself, and male ducks and roosters simply don't know how to help care for babies. So upon hatching, ducklings and chicks, which are precocial species, immediately fluff out and follow their mother, who leads them to food and teaches them where to hide when danger approaches. They are developed enough to eat by themselves right from the start.

Songbirds are smaller than chickens and ducks, and mothers expend relatively more energy incubating their eggs. They have fewer babies in a brood, so it is easier for them to successfully feed their four or five babies than it would be for a mother duck or hen to feed a dozen (and most father songbirds, including robins, help with this task). It simply works better for them if their babies hatch while still very undeveloped. Birds with helpless young like this are altricial species.

Baby robins may be undeveloped, with very few feathers and bulging eyes at first, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Their parents think they're the most beautiful, wonderful babies in the world! And looking at them, you can learn a lot about birds. The first few days, you can see how enormous bird eyes actually are beneath their transparent skin and translucent skull. When their feathers grow in, we see only a tiny bit of those huge eyes.

Baby bird skin is clear enough to allow us to see some of their internal organs. You can see the greenish gall bladder (which holds bile produced in the liver to help them digest fat juicy worms!) the purplish-red liver, and the orange yolk-sac. As that grows smaller and the nestling grows bigger, you might notice some bright yellow areas here and there, those are fat deposits. Down feathers grow in fairly quickly to make the nestlings a little fluffy, so they can stay warm when their mother isn't incubating. Watch how their body feathers grow in. Each one appears to be a very tiny cylinder at first, like a tiny drinking straw, but that smooth outer case, called the "sheath," crumbles to allow the developing feather to open up. It takes only fourteen days or so for these tiny, unformed little creatures to grow a full body covering of feathers, with bright and sparkling eyes, able to hop and flutter their wings. Enjoy watching this amazing transformation!