Sunny Day and a New Nest continued...

From an unobtrusive vantage point I watched as the female visited various parts of the yard to pick up different types of building materials. Across the driveway she yanked up dried grasses, carrying back bunches at a time. Closer to the house she found some damp soil, this she appeared to consume for the assumed purpose of regurgitating into the nest to give it more stability. At each return to the nest she would shimmy down and into the forming cup, molding it the shape she desired, then she would pick and sew the grasses into the wall of the nest. The male didn’t do much besides tag along, always remaining within sight of the female. The nest tree was visited by both Steller’s jays and Bullock’s orioles, both of whom were swiftly reprimanded and escorted away by the robins.

As we’re leaving town for a few days the robin’s will have the whole place to themselves, so disturbance should be at a minimum. I fully expect we’ll have nearly ready eggs when I return in a week.