(Soon-To-Be) New Family Under Our Deck

It was a few weeks ago I noticed some new 'construction' going on under our deck in the backyard: a robin's nest had appeared. And sure enough, a few days later, I found there were three sky blue eggs in it. So, any day now, I'm guessing there'll be a few more mouths to feed at our place.

Our 'mom' robin, as we've been calling her, has been dutifully sitting on the nest for around a week now, incubating her eggs-- which appears to be no small task, mind you. Rain or shine, night or day, she's out there, sitting on the nest. Does she get any help from the dad robin? Nope, he's nowhere to be seen; it's all on her. She's even gotten somewhat used to us coming and going and letting Chance (our beagle) out in the backyard, although if we make too loud a noise, she'll fly to the safety of our fence a few feet away.

Not knowing much about the nesting habits of our native robins, I found THIS article that says robins will sit on the nest for 12 to 14 days before the eggs hatch. After that, it says "The young leave the nest after 14 to 16 days and continue to be cared for by the parents for up to four weeks." And, it also says, "a baby bird that is featherless must be fed every 15 to 20 minutes from about sunrise to 10 p.m." Sheesh! That's a pretty demanding schedule for 'mom' robin!

So, after reading all this, if I've done my calculations correctly, any day now we could be seeing some baby birds peek out of the nest. It's been kind of cool to watch, even though we can't see the nest all that well, and haven't wanted to bother her too much. I hope they all make it! Have you ever had a robin or other bird build a nest on your property?  Here's a time lapse video that shows things much more clearly: