“Mom likes you better!”- said one robin baby to its nestling mate.

I started out this robin nest watch – with three beautiful eggs. Unfortunately, one of the hatchlings died on day two.

I noticed that of the two remaining nestlings…one was clearly the little one – the runt, so to speak.

On close observation and with these photos, I was able to determine that the larger nestling was clearly being favored by mom or dad.

The first photo was taken while I was hiding behind a blind in our shed. Soon the parent came and perched on a tree limb just outside the shed. The adult started chirping repeatedly for several minutes. The nestlings must have been alarmed and hid from me after that, so not more photos. I left the blind and the parent returned to the nest! Interesting! I did not think the adult would notice anything. Although, I was hidden, the adult could tell the area was changed and did not like this change one bit.

For the other three photos, I hid behind a tree outside the shed, and was able to get the mom or dad coming in to feed the two tykes.

MOM!!!!!

I lucky shot of these new born robin nestlings.

Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Cornell Lab of Ornithology