Nest Building 101

I guess I didn't have anything better to do this morning than to watch a robin teach me how to build a bird nest.

I watched through my kitchen window.

She sits on the branches surveying the land.
Her house has to be in a good neighborhood, you know.

She hunts for building materials. As you can see, there are plenty of free building supplies in
our yard. If you click on the picture to enlarge it, you will see a twig in her mouth.

In the building process.

Looking right at me.

Again, click on these to see a larger picture.
Here is the back of her with her tail feathers up,
trying to make an indent in the nest as she goes along.

Pulling up some of the falling structure, getting it just right.
It looks like some of my old Iris leaves.

She'd get on the nest and wiggle her butt and tail feathers around, trying to make it comfy.

Giving the almost completed nest a try.

Looking over the area from her side porch.

The almost finished nest.
A little messy, but it will be her home sweet home.

I wish I had a video of this. It was amazing. She'd go get material, come back and tuck it in her nest, then she'd sit and wiggle around making an indent in the middle. I watched for the longest time. It's hard to get good pictures through the kitchen window, tho.

Again, it will just take a second, if you click on the pictures to enlarge them, you will be able to see the robin much better.

And I have a sad note to add to this post.

I don't know for sure what happened, but I noticed yesterday that the mourning dove wasn't sitting on her nest. We checked it out and found two baby birds on the ground below. They were lifeless, but didn't look like they had been harmed in any way. We had a hard frost that morning, do you think the birds could have frozen and the mother then put them out of her nest? We never bothered the nest, the doves were very diligent and sat on it both night and day. I was so sad, but unfortunately, in nature, things like this happen.