I don't mind that at all -- it's more of a problem for them, really, because after the eggs are laid, every time we go in the yard with the dogs, mom flies off in a panic and then peeps angrily from a tree until we go away. Look, lady, I'm sorry, but I pay the mortgage here, not you!
They also leave a lot of construction debris around.
I saw a male robin working on a nest in a neighbor's yard. The red-breasted henpecked hubby had a mouth full of dead grass, and was no doubt waiting to be told where to put it. "Try it on that branch... no, wait, put it in the maple tree... no, no, too much light. Move it over to the gable. Oh, no, forget that. How about the dogwood? Higher, higher… Why are you looking at me like that, Ralph?"
You'd think that robins mate for life, with all that going on. The male robin does seem to understand one of the crucial rules of marriage:
But in fact, robins usually don't mate for life, although they might get together again if they find themselves hanging out in the same place the next year. In any event, for the male, it's a case like any second marriage -- the triumph of hope over experience.
I'll keep tabs on the robins as the spring moves on. Frankly, I'd like to hear Mrs. Robin yelling at her husband the way she yells at me. But I think they don't like to air their dirty laundry outside the nest.
2 comments:
Every year, (what looks to be) the same robin returns to my little patch of grass outside. I think it's the same one because he looks like he's had the snot beaten out of him. But he's tough...I call him "Sunny Jim". ;>
We get birds that think they are clever building a nest in the garage or outside laundry room. Sneaky rats end up raiding their nest after the work is all done.
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