# What happened to my robin's eggs?



## Ole Spike

Checked on a robin nest in our yard a couple days ago and there were 4 eggs in it. The nest is in a blue spruce and is only about 4 feet off the ground. Peeked in it this morning and there are only 2 eggs left. Looked around and found a few pieces of eggshell about 10 feet away. Anyway, who is the culprit? I have 3 ideas, you tell me what you think. 1. Have never seen a raccoon in the yard but have found their droppings, though none this year. 2. Noticed 2 crows flying around the backyard yesterday, could they have gotten the eggs? 3. Would the robins push a couple eggs out of the nest for some reason and something ate them later? One more clue, the nest itself was undisturbed.


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## Rencoho

Cowbird?


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## Fishndude

I have watched Robins raise broods many times, and have never seen 4 babies in a nest. Mostly 2, and sometimes 3. I am guessing that the Mother bird somehow knew which eggs were most viable (not because they are smart), and just pushed 2 of the eggs out of the nest to make room for the eggs which would be most likely to hatch strong birds which will live to adulthood. That is very common in birds and animals.


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## icecathound

another culprit could be bluejays they are bad for raiding nests, if it was the parent robin they would most likely carried the egg away from the nest before dumping it


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## MSUICEMAN

Rencoho said:


> Cowbird?


thats what i was thinking too


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## WHITE CLOUD

i was thinking bluejay also ,they are one of the best nest robber's.


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## chinamigarden

Robins will lay 4-7 eggs. If 2 of the eggs are missing and there were no babies, then I would think it was either a raccoon, crow or blue jay. 

Cowbirds are not known to eat other birds eggs, they are a parasitic nester which means they lay an egg in another birds nest and let the other bird raise their young. Some birds will remove the cowbird egg, or in the case of yellow warblers they will abandon the nest, often building a brand new nest ontop of the old one and lay a new clutch of eggs. Other birds will incubate and raise the cowbird baby, often to the detrement of their own brood.


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## 22 Chuck

Squirrel


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## multibeard

I wold keep an eye on the crows. They are nest robbers.


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## Ole Spike

So far I think I can eliminate squirrels and bluejays. Have never seen either here, not enough trees I guess. Am keeping an eye out for the others though.


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## beautriz66

I have had bluejays drive off the robins and eat the eggs, then destroy the nest, right beneath our kitchen window. Had a jay kill a hummingbird that got trapped in the garage and ate it to pieces. Hate bluejays, and yes, i know, that is just their nature...
Shot a red squirrel out of a robins nest years ago, eating the live baby robins. Not a big fan of the litle squirrel with the big mouth , either


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## Ole Spike

beautriz66 said:


> I have had bluejays drive off the robins and eat the eggs, then destroy the nest, right beneath our kitchen window. Had a jay kill a hummingbird that got trapped in the garage and ate it to pieces. Hate bluejays, and yes, i know, that is just their nature...
> Shot a red squirrel out of a robins nest years ago, eating the live baby robins. Not a big fan of the litle squirrel with the big mouth , either


Wow!


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## Fabner1

A '**** would have never left 2 eggs! It was either another bird, a squirrel or a snake.


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## Brown duck

Rencoho said:


> Cowbird?


Probably not a cowbird - not without another (white) egg laid in the nest.

At any rate, sounds like an avian predator (crow, blue jay, some woodpeckers have been known to eat eggs), though there is no exact science to figuring out the culprit without some kind of footage. And no, mammalian predators usually don't leave too many eggs.


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## Fishndude

I have a Robin's nest, which was built on a wreath my wife made out of grapevines, on my front porch, right now. Only 2 eggs, and Mom hates it when we use our porch swing. They do this most years, and other than the bird crap all over the porch, it is really cool to watch them hatch and grow up. The whole process, from hatching to flying, only takes about 3 weeks. Sometimes we feed the babies small pieces of worms, once they get large.


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## Ole Spike

The 2 eggs left are still OK. Sounds like we've narrowed it down to a crow or the robins themselves removing them. More to come....


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