Robin Egg Blue
I recently took a walk off-trail at Papscanee Island in Rensselaer County, New York, taking advantage of deer trails to find my way through the thick brush. I was startled by an American Robin flushing from directly in front of me, not more than three feet away. A closer look at the location the bird flushed from revealed this:
After quickly taking a couple of pictures while the robin cluck-clucked her displeasure I retreated and waited for a few minutes, guarding against cowbirds, until the robin returned to the nest.
Good luck, egg!
And a question: If I hadn’t seen any robins today but stumbled upon the nest without seeing the robin that had just flown off, and identified the egg as a robin’s, could I count robin on my day-list?
an American Robin on a nest in Prospect Park, Brooklyn
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This post was originally published on 6 May 2007, but we hate to keep posts this good buried in the archives! And remember to keep an eye out – it won’t be long before robins are nesting.
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Corey is a New Yorker who lived most of his life in upstate New York but has lived in Queens since 2008. He's only been birding since 2005 but has garnered a respectable life list by birding whenever he wasn't working as a union representative or spending time with his family. He lives in Forest Hills with Daisy, their son, Desmond Shearwater, and their indoor cat, B.B. His bird photographs have appeared on the Today Show, in Birding, Living Bird Magazine, Bird Watcher's Digest, and many other fine publications. He is also the author of the American Birding Association Field Guide to the Birds of New York.
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238 Comments
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May 16, 2014 7:22:11 pm
I too have become fascinated with watching these amazing Robins with their nesting. Mama bird is very protective. I can sit on my deck, under which her nest is built, and watch her going back and forth and warning other birds when they come around to stay back! At least another Robin is there (perhaps a male) has got her back in keeping danger away. Love to watch them!
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April 10, 2012 9:49:05 pm
My mom and I found an egg outside and it still seems alive…I have it in a bowl with grass all around it, and paper towels under it, it is under a lamp…I would like to see the bird live… Is there a chance of it living… It has been doing well
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April 11, 2012 10:10:04 am
I moved it over to a heating pad which is little warmer 🙂 pray for the best
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April 11, 2012 11:25:32 pm
Hi, I found a robin’s egg in the grass while walking my dog and the only tree was a super tall palm tree. I picked it up and took it home to check out some sites to see if it was alive still. It is cold and rainy. So I placed the egg at home in my scarf and then went out – when I came back to check on it I felt the heart beat through the egg shell. I don’t know what to do now! I never expected it to be alive! I want to find it’s nest and put it back, but if it is in that high palm tree I won’t be able to. What do you suggest I do?! What happens when it hatches? What is the time frame to feed it when it hatches? Is it okay to be in my house protected just by the scarf or do I need to put a lamp on it or put it on a heating pad? I’m excited and nervous!
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April 12, 2012 7:34:28 pm
hi i recently noticed that the nest infront of my house and i notticed that there are three robin eggs in the nest and i was wondering because i havent seen the mom lately but the nest is like a food high and about 3 inches thick and i was wondering what to do if u could get back to me on that that would be great thanx
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April 14, 2012 9:13:55 am
please can you tell me l wanna know. thank you
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April 17, 2012 9:10:48 pm
Corey is more patient with you people than I ever could be. Why do you post your questions if they’ve already been posted and answered DOZENS of times? Would it kill you to read the other posts first? And NO, you can’t hatch an egg on your own, as has already been stated MANY times. Give it up already!
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April 17, 2012 10:38:54 pm
@Kitty: I think I love you… 🙂
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April 18, 2012 3:06:39 pm
There is a robin laying on 4 eggs, but her nest is in a bad location… on our fence right above concrete. We have two dogs that would hurt the babies if they fell out of the nest. Should I move the nest to a more secure location or just leave it?
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April 19, 2012 9:38:55 am
Hi, I am 16 and I am a Licensed bird breeder. I have hand raised many baby birds in my life. Me and my friend found a robin egg outside on the ground and not cracked. We candled it and there was nothing in it so I put it in my incubator and a few days later it started to develop. If it hatches will I be doing something illegal by keeping it?
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April 19, 2012 11:00:54 am
Some Robins built a nest on the fence of our back porch. They are at about chest height. When they were building it my son (2 years old) pulled the beginnings of it down until I caught him. They finished the nest and we saw 2 eggs in it. We could see them from a few feet away as they were pretty much in plain sight. Eventually we saw 2 baby birds. One morning not 2 weeks later I looked out and saw some dried grass on the porch from the nest, part of the nest torn slightly, and the 2 birds are gone. I looked on the ground for them, but no. My dogs went nuts on the porch sniffing around, leading me to believe a raccoon got the babies. I am thinking they may try again in the same location since I was told that nests have been built in that fence for years and there have always been small children and dogs in the house. How can I keep the racoons away?
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April 23, 2012 10:35:49 pm
You can hatch bird eggs in your home if they are fertile. A lot of work when they hatch. You have to buy hand feeding bird food. I bought it from the local zoo. You start feeding at 6am in the morning and finish at 12 midnight every day and they are fed every two hours.
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April 29, 2012 7:51:03 pm
hi- i found a blue robin bird egg under a pine tree. i put i in a box and put a towel in the box. then i set the blue robin bird in and surrounded it with cotton balls. it is now a aqua color and i am checking on the bird every 5-10 minutes. will it live? am i taking good care of it? what else could i do?
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April 29, 2012 8:09:36 pm
hello ive been looking for a robins egg so i could make it hatch but i looked every were i cant find one!!! there are so much robins were i live but i cant find a nest or a egg help im only 11!!!!
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May 21, 2013 11:18:12 pm
DON’T FIND EGGS AND TAKE THEM!!!! Chances are you will take it and it will die plus its illegal! Only take an egg if its on the ground and even then its illegal. You can get sued. If you find one on the ground bring it to someone who is licensed or you get a license but you have to wait until your 13 i’m pretty sure. I have a baby bird at the moment but at least I have a license because i’m 13. Apply for a license and please don’t take eggs out of nests
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April 30, 2012 12:54:19 pm
Have a robin’s nest in my backyard. Last week, there were 2 eggs. I peeked today, and they are just GONE! not hatched, not one the ground. Don’t blue jay’s take eggs? I don’t know what else could have happened.
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April 30, 2012 5:29:34 pm
My neighbor found a robin`s egg on the ground,but she also saw it fall.She doesn`t know what pushed it down,but it fell without a crack on it.I-being a HUGE wildlife lover-took it in without any kind of protest.The egg was warm when I got it.Is there even a slim chance it will survive????
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April 30, 2012 5:31:28 pm
I also have a lmap with two settings on it;Bright and extremely bright.What setting should I have it on?????
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April 30, 2012 5:32:55 pm
Oh,another FYI,I`m only 12!!!!!!!!!!!!!HELP PLEASE!
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May 06, 2012 4:06:44 pm
i found a robin egg on the floor in my backyard like most people i put it in a warm safe place. but i dnt think it was on the floor becuase rhe mom didnt wnt it. there was a destroyed nest a couple feet near the egg,im thinking that it fell out. what do i do????
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May 17, 2012 1:12:42 pm
I seen a robin built a nest behind my neighbors porch and I have been watching her come and go from my yard so she could sit on her eggs but one day I came around the back of my trailer and I noticed a big black & white bird that looked almost like a mag-pie that landed on the top of my neighbors house- then it jumped down onto their porch-then onto the ledge of their back door and then jumped onto the robin’s nest and took a big blue egg out of it and then flew away– my neighbor took a look and there were no eggs left in the nest so I’m just wondering if the robin abandoned her nest as I have not seen her for the past couple of days. If someone could help me I would appreciate it…Bye for now
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May 23, 2012 4:54:21 pm
Hi, I found a robins nest that had fallen with two eggs still inside. My husband said that they had been there for a couple of days, and he didn’t mess with them and hoped that the parents would come back for them. Well I had picked them up yesterday and brought them inside, they are cold to the touch so ill just hold them until they get warm again. I do not have any lights or incubators to keep them under so i kind of just wrapped them and cuddled them together and have them in a small birds cage. I was trying to find look up how to find out if they are alive or not and so I took them in a dark room and held a flash light up to them I did not see a bird form, all I saw was a yellow spot on the side of the egg, so I’m thinking that they may have stayed out in the sun too long and cooked. Any opinions? I really don’t want to toss them out until I know for sure that they dot have a chance.
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May 24, 2012 2:34:26 pm
An American Robin has built a nest on my back porch. There are eggs in there that are due to hatch next week, based on the date that I noticed that eggs were in there from an empty nest. The last time I saw the Robin in the nest was 3 days ago. She hangs out in my yard, on the fence or in the tree watching over the nest. The last time I noticed that she rotated the eggs to maintain temperature was 3 days ago. I was very careful not to disturb the nest or the environment in which she built the nest in; however I did take a few pictures. One of which she swooped down at me from a nearby tree. Could she have possibly abaonded her nest, thinking that it wasn’t safe anymore?
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May 26, 2012 7:46:28 pm
Hi was wondering how do u tell if a blue robin egg is fertile?????
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May 27, 2012 12:15:03 pm
First of all how can I feed a baby bird when I’m away at school? And how can I keep a egg warm without a incubator?
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May 27, 2012 10:48:13 pm
I found a Robin egg on the ground on Friday around 4:00ish my mom said that it might have fallen out of the nest Tuesday night during the big wind storm. When I picked it up I don’t remember if it was warm or not but will it have a chance to live? I brought it home and got a shoe box and then put my rabbit fur that I got a while back around it. I have kept it as warm as possible by putting my phone underneath it at night and then putting it in the sun during the day. I have had it for about three days now and it has not turned gray. Is there still a chance for it to live? Please reply asap thank you!
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May 28, 2012 9:09:53 am
Emma,
Fill a cup with hot water then find a cup to put into the cup of hot water then fill the cup on the water with dirt then repeat often and put a mercury thermometer in the in the dirt and put the egg in the cup of dirt try to make sure the eggs temp is 100 to 104 degrees change water often . Hope this helps,,,,,,,
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May 30, 2012 10:21:05 pm
Okay I’ve read the posts but didn’t come across anything I’m about to talk about. A robin built a nest just outside our upper level bathroom window. She lay four eggs and all four hatched. For four days there were four babies in the nest. Today when I looked there were only 2 in the nest. We looked outside on the ground and around but no babies. The older 2 birds are still there growing and changing every day. What happened to the other two? My theory another bird took them..I thought I saw a different bird standing on the edge of the nest…could it be?
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June 04, 2012 1:42:08 pm
I was very concerned, when the robin nest on my balcony was leff without a mother for a day and a half. It rained the one night the mother didn’t come back. She is now back once again, and is now sitting on the eggs. Are the eggs still alive. There are 3.
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June 16, 2012 12:23:43 am
Today. I had to take a robins nest down to save an egg from being cut down… its still in its nest as of right now.. I just sent out a email to a bird rehabilitation center what else should I dom
, I don’t have a heat lamp so I wrapped up the nest in warm clothing.need helpp! -
June 16, 2012 11:39:29 am
A robin built a nest in the wreath hanging on our front door. Over the course of several days 4 eggs appeared. We stopped using the front door so we wouldn’t disturb her or the eggs. Today we checked the nest and all the eggs were gone. There is no sign of shells or remnants of baby birds. What happened?
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June 24, 2012 5:14:07 pm
I’ve been watching a robin sitting on her 3 eggs for days now. We went away for couple hours and just saw the nest was attacked (i guess). 2 eggs on the ground. one cracked alittle and on edge of nest. I put the egg back in nest bc it was about to fall off the branch. It had a small hole in it though. I feel so bad about what happened..nest was probably in too low a spot. Anyhow now the mama is sitting in the nest. Doesn’t she realize eggs are done…or does she think the one I put back is still ok? Can the mama tell?
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July 14, 2012 4:52:33 pm
Hi Corey,
I’ve read through these first, fyi. Basically, I found a robin’s egg in the loft of a barn. I picked it up thinking it was old/abandoned, simply to show my daughter. It had surprising weight to it. There is a robin’s nest in the barn, live, the mother goes to and fro. I am not sure how an intact egg got into the loft, but it was VERY warm in the loft…
I got it home and checked it with a flashlight to just make sure it wasn’t good. Well, there’s a dark spot in the center that moves around. This freaked me out as you can imagine.
I put in a phone call to a friend who is a certified wildlife rehab person. I can’t remember the correct term. In the meanwhile I am doing my best to keep it warm.
I can’t return it to the location. I took it while on a cleaning job, I cleaned up all the chaff and fluff it was sitting in on the ground per the barn owner’s request. I could not reach the live nest if I needed to. The owner has locked the barn and is back at his other property.
Question is, is there anything else I could or should do while waiting for my friend to phone?
Thank you.
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September 06, 2012 5:41:12 pm
i need help
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April 14, 2013 2:23:56 pm
I found a robin egg in my shed and I keep it warm but I don’t know if its alive so I found something saying how many days till its sop posed to hatch so I hope it’s gonna be ok
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May 28, 2013 9:07:59 pm
I found 3 robin eggs.I wrapped them with a tissue. I do not have an incubator.Do you have any ideas on how to keep them warm so they hatch?FYI i candled them and there was a baby bird in each of them.
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April 21, 2014 7:34:47 pm
We just took in a robins nest with 4 eggs. One is missing the top and the baby’s beak is sticking out and the a little bloody. It has a heartbeat (we can see it the sack moving as if the heart is beating or baby is breathing). We are putting the nest under a red reptile light to keep them warm. What are the chances for the partially broken egg? Its very sad.
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© 2013 10,000 Birds. All words, images, and opinions are the property of their respective authors unless stated otherwise.
Robins really like to put nests on top of light fixtures on porches. I bought a $60 wreath and put it on my front door for the spring that was made out of real twigs, pine needles, ground moss, and other natural things. Two days later, that wreath was picked down to the wire holding things in place and my porch light had all that wreath’s material in it shaped like a bowl! I couldn’t help but laugh. That mother bird was perched up there like a queen. I worry about the little birds when they get ready to fledge. I hope there are no more than 3 eggs up there because if there are, one or more little birds are going to get knocked out early. With that in mind, I may end up throwing some old towels down under that nest on the porch in a couple of weeks so they will have a soft landing. But, I am going to have to do something when this batch hatches to keep anymore birds from building there. I usually watch 3 nests a summer in strange places on my house. Bird watching can become addicting!