i’m a little concerned about our feathered friend here. she took up residence in the nest she built near the ceiling of our front porch way back in april. you might remember that i showed it earlier in the spring (april 4th, to be exact), when it appeared to have been built, then abandoned.
well, no sooner did i mention it on the blog than she fortified the nest even further and began her vigil (that was april 8th). it usually takes robins about two and half weeks to lay a clutch of eggs and hatch them. since we have a robin’s nest almost every year in this spot, i can say with accuracy that the laying usually takes place any time after mid april and hatching occurs in the first two weeks of may, give or take. things got going early this year though; david took this photo on april 14th, about halfway through the normal incubation time.
during the time the bird sits on the nest, any activity at the front door (which is the main portal to and from our home) is met with a swoop and a screech, if not a sharp peck on the head. the UPS guy, the mailman, the knitting students, and anyone else who approaches, gets it.
the normal pace of life throughout our yard is all screwed up this year, because we never had a winter freeze and spring came way earlier than usual. be that as it may, it’s nearly july and this robin is still sitting on the nest (i can’t believe all that time has passed and i’m just now mentioning it). i thought maybe she’d give up, you know? but now i’m not sure what to think; obviously, nothing that resembles life is going on in there, but i daren’t get close enough to look. i’m not even sure there are actual eggs (especially with all those nasty squirrel predators we have nearby).
any bird experts out there with advice? it’s really not all that disturbing to us except for the swooping. i’m a little worried that if things don’t progress favorably for her, it will get worse.
other than that, it couldn’t be a nicer summer. the garden looks super healthy (i’m heading out there to work as soon as i’m done writing this). everything is growing so well and filling in so fast, i can hardly believe it’s ours.
i was buried in getting my fifth BNK book chapter written this week, which means there were some long days at the computer, pulling the photography, writing, bios, and pattern together. now it’s all done and anne marie is reviewing it, yay; i love getting big chunks of work done. just one chapter to go and this one will be complete. i’ll be a little sad it’s over; i have really REALLY enjoyed writing it and designing with the undyed yarns (click here to see the patterns, read more about it or purchase the collection).
oh well, we’ll just have to do it again next year . . .
i always feel like a little break is in order after a chapter goes out—long hours of knitting, bike riding, and/or gardening for a day or two. my way of clearing my head and getting ready for the next series of work. last night, when my chapter was done by 8pm, i was thrilled to be able to spend the rest of the evening knitting in my study and listening to a book (just finished conquistadora, by esmerelda santiago and loved it).
i worked on some swatches for upcoming projects and when it was time to watch TV with david, i turned to the sleeve of my caïssa sweater. oh, how i love to knit smaller pieces, haha—the first half of the sleeve goes so quickly, it makes me feel like a knitting wizard. before i put it down for the night, however, the rows had begun to feel noticeably longer. still, they’ll never be as long as those back rows.
i should be able to finish this sleeve before i go to TNNA, which means i can bring the last piece with me and possibly finish it there. jen tells me she has sweater quantities of holda on her site in this purple haze colorway (and of course, it would be terrific in nearly any one of the colors listed; holda dyes up in beautiful, muted variations).
after TNNA next weekend, i’ll be staying home until mid-september and i want to take that time to get ahead on things; i somehow managed to slide into a pattern of working closer to deadlines than i usually like, which is stressful.
as long as i manage it well, i should be able to get lots done. with things in the garden looking like they might be VERY fruitful, that could be challenging. i’m thinking i might benefit from making some sort of schedule—a real one, not just the one that’s always in my head (which has served me well for a long time, but seems to not be working so great lately).
i have until early august before a big rush of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant would be due. through july, we’ll have greens, beans, and garlic to deal with. that’s a lot; i’ll have to keep up a steady pace on all bases at once, i guess; no fooling around of rme (but i do want to keep up my running and biking; a girl’s gotta have some downtime).
just as the last of the BNK yarns is being packed for shipping next month, boxes filed with yarn are already arriving for our fall in full color club, which begins shipping in august. kat and kim will be opening up the FIFC clubhouse in a couple of weeks, airing things out, freshening up the bar supplies, and interviewing cabana boys. seriously good fun—you should check it out and join us!
and now, it’s off to the garden with me—big day of weeding and thinning ahead.
17 thoughts on “does this bird look crazed to you?”
Wondering about how much Holda I will need for caissa sweater. I have a 38″ bust measurement and I’m 5’4″. Regular sweater requirements won’t do for a bathrobe sweater! Suggestions:
Are you sure your resident robin isn’t sitting on her second cluch? I’m of the understanding that they can have as many as 3 per summer.
Your garden looks great. Mine is going well too – except for a family of bunnies that is occupying a hole in one section of mine. (saw their noses poking out of the mulch when I watered. They don’t even have their eyes open yet and I don’t have the heart to evict them). But boy do we need some rain.
Our robins always had at least two clutches. Mirror on a long stick will let you see inside.
It makes my heart go pitter-pat when I see all those FIFC Club boxes!!!
I was going to suggest using a mirror on a stick too. I hope it’s just that she has another clutch of eggs there, and isn’t getting totally confused/stressed. All those boxes of yarn. I bet detective Kat will be enlarging them to try and read what’s written on the boxes! haha
Oh my!!! Look at those boxes. I think I began salivating as soon as I saw the picture.
And that poor little bird. I hope she’s still really nesting and not abnormal. I like the mirror idea.
Anxiously awaiting the BNK club pattern release. Yarn is all wound and ready to go. I may have to ask the Father’s Day visitors to talk among themselves while I cast on. Hard to believe the club only has one more shipment.
But then we Fall into Full Color!!!! Clubhouse is open July 1st for pre-club fun and get togethers. Maybe a contest or two. Kimkimkim and I will be putting some fun things together. Hope we get lots and lots of clubbies this go round to play with us.
Thank you Anne and David for giving us a safe, fun place to play.
Make sure you wear your cycle helmet when using your mirror on a stick,just in case the little love lets rip..glad that the parcels managed to make it into your hallway in one piece though,can’t wait,my first time in FIFC,whooo.
Our Robins are on their second round in the same nest this summer.
When I showed Hubby to photo of the FIFC boxes he asked which two are mine. Isn’t he too cute. He really and truly is an enabler.
Love my Loft trio and looking forward to your design, Anne.
I’m sooooo happy I joined FIFC after I missed last year.
Thanx so very much for all the knitting enjoyment you guys provide.
hugs
Don’t worry about your Rrobin- even if there are no eggs, she will be fine. We once had a male cardinal that built a nest for a few years in a row and sat on them. He never did find a female, but I guess he enjoyed building the nest!
I would suggest checking out the nest, and if it is the same one or if she has no eggs but is just sitting, then remove the nest and she’ll move on. If you or David haven’t noticed her with young and moving around the yard to feed them, she probably has a problem and needs to have the nest removed.
I don’t think your robin looks crazed. I think she’s just very focused much like knitters on a new and exciting project.That being said robins usually have 2-3 clutches in a summer as other readers had mentioned. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
Probably a second or third clutch for Mama Robin. Our chickadees are sitting on their second currently as are the cardinals. The nest location looks to be fairly predator safe, which means if she’s successful, she will return next year. The mirror will work but don’t be too surprised if she swoops at it.
What I did to get rid of robins returning to nest in my front entryway, on a sloping drainpipe, no less: went to Target kiddie department and purchased a couple of flexible toy geckos, attached them to said drainpipe after removing the nest, and the robins skedaddled. That was 2 years ago, and I haven’t had to rig up the frightening toys since. A toy snake would wave in the wind too, but the geckos were what I found first, and they did the trick. I like robins, but not in my front entryway.
I don’t know much about robins but I don’t mind one on my front porch. It’s winter here & not much gardening happening.
Love your robin!!! At our house it’s purple finches on both the front and back porches. Fortunately they are less agressive, or the porches are large enough to give them adequate space.
I had a slightly deranged robin who kept flying into the windows on the back of my house a few summers ago. It was kind of amusing at first, but quickly got very old. People told me he was mistaking his own reflection in the glass for another robin, and trying to fight with it. But I think he hit his head often enough to do serious damage.
Hope yours just has a second clutch. I imagine it’s a little disconcerting to be dive bombed!
All the previous robin advice is worthwhile.
My Resident Robin is busy feeding her second clutch, who will probably fledge by the end of the week (I hope before I leave for vacation). She is such a scardey-cat that I had to give up using the front door at all, because she would flee the nest at the slightest provocation and not return for quite some time. The front door has been off limits for months.
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