Jonah Lisa Land

Nest Cam :: Drawing Project

This is simple but it's a good first robin related art project for us.  Just grab your favorite art supplies--crayons, colored pencils, markers--and draw a picture of the robins or the eggs.

Here's Huck's drawing. 

He really wanted there to be 5 eggs so he drew the nest with little Yellow in there, too.  That's Clementine and Abner perched there on the side of the nest.  The rest of the drawing is the porch and the stairs.

Now, it's your turn!  But here's the catch:  We want to be able to see your drawing, too.  So, I've start a Nest Cam Flickr Group for all the art projects.  I hope you'll join the group and share your photos with us.  And be sure to describe your picture in the comments section.  We've added the photos of the robins so far and this drawing to start it all off. 

We can't wait to see everyone's drawings!

Nest Cam :: Incubating

Clementine has been tirelessly incubating her eggs for almost a week.  We mainly just try to give her peace and quite and usually keep the Observation Window and the door to our Nest Viewing Lab closed these days.  But we do check in daily.  Here's a look at how we get our little peeks.

A simple step ladder.  We climb it very slowly so we don't surprise her.  If we appear too quickly, she flies away.  But if we inch up ever so slowly, we see this...


She keeps an eye on us but she seems to know that we aren't dangerous and so she tolerates us.  Sometimes we catch her preening her feathers and sometimes we catch her turning the eggs underneath her.  We can tell that's what she's doing because she sort of wiggles from side to side.  The eggs have to be turned regularly so the baby robins inside will develop properly.

Saturday and Tuesday we're doing a couple of simple art projects so be sure and check back!

News Flash!

Having two kids is at least TWICE as hard as having only one kid!

So...um...how come none of you jerks clued me in to that ahead of time? 

Bear with me.  There will be a Nest Cam update tomorrow.

Sheriff's Log :: 27

MAY 4

7:42 am     Disturbing the peace was reported

2:25 pm     Illegal dumping was reported

MAY 5

10:00 am    Illegal dumping was reported

12:20 pm    Suspicious activity was reported

5:58 pm      A horse was reported loose

MAY 6

10:57 am    Disturbance was reported

MAY 8

9:47 am      Property was found

7:22 pm      A female reportedly drank some cleaning agent

7:30 pm      An ambulance was requested

10:01 pm    A disturbance of the peace was reported

MAY 10

11:45 am    A dog was roaming Victor

Nest Cam :: A Full Nest

Well, we think that's all the eggs Clementine is going to lay.  There will be no baby robin named Yellow, not in this nest anyway.  Just when we got used to her daily routine, she's changed it.  Yesterday she spent most of the day sitting on the nest just like this.

She got out a few times and searched for worms and bugs down in the yard just below, but mainly she sat on her eggs and kept them nice and toasty.

So, we have 4 eggs.  Isn't that wonderful?

We've read that the mama robin will incubate (sit on the eggs and keep them warm) for 12 days before they start to hatch.  June 2nd will be 12 days from when she stopped laying and started incubating, so mark your calendars!

There won't be much excitement here while we wait, just a lot of Clementine sitting while we twiddle our thumbs.  While we wait there will only be a Nest Cam post every couple of days or so, but we're also planning some fun projects we hope you'll join in on.

Nest Cam :: Egg #4

4 EGGS!!!

Huck couldn't wait for them to hatch to name them so I'm pleased to present Scoot, Feeker (?), Squawk and Button Open. 

Everything we've read says Robins lay between 3 to 5 eggs so this could be the last one or there could be one more egg coming tomorrow.  Either way, Monday we'll begin the incubation phase of this little journey.  Unfortunately, that's going to be a little boring in the photo department.  How many pictures of one robin sitting on one nest can you take?  So while Clementine sits we'll be trying to build our own nest, drawing eggs and robins, learning what robins and baby robins eat, talking about predators, and keeping an eye out for bird mites.  Itchy!

And of course, we do have a 5th name waiting in the wings, just in case.  So check in tomorrow to see if Yellow makes an appearance. 

Nest Cam :: Egg #3

I hope this is a lesson to everyone about not moving nests.  You just never know.  The good news keeps piling up...

3 EGGS!!!

These robins certainly have their system down.  They have the same routine every day, sort of like we do.  Clementine is hunkered down low in the nest when we wake up, we think she lays an egg in the late morning, 10 or 11-ish.  She sits for a couple more hours, then leaves dad in charge.  We don't see her again until after dark.

Abner didn't mind the afternoon photo as much but I stayed farther back this time and just used a bigger lens. He had a few choice words for me but he stayed in the tree and didn't puff up or hop around.

Can you find him in this picture?

Now that we've got three eggs, we've made a few adjustments around the house.

First, we've stopped using our front door and are trying to discourage neighbors and delivery people from using it as well...

After all, it's only for a month and we do have 2 other, perfectly good doors.

We're also trying to minimize how much we disturb the robins while we go about our normal life inside the house, especially in the morning when Clementine is laying and sitting.  So, we've closed off the powder room except for bird watching....

Here's a view of our nest viewing lab window from the outside.  Most of our Nest Cam shots are taken there. 

Of course, we have no idea if Clementine will stop at three eggs or if she'll lay one or even two more.  We'll just have to keep watching.  Whatever the final number, once she stops laying, we'll slow down a bit and do a few robin and nest relate art projects while we wait for the eggs to hatch. 

See you tomorrow.

Nest Cam :: Egg #2

This is what Clementine looked like all morning yesterday...

And can you guess what we found in the afternoon?

You're right! 

WE HAVE 2 EGGS!!!

We also got a look at the daddy robin and we decided to named him Abner. 

Just like when she laid the first egg, the mama robin laid in the late morning, sat on the eggs for a few hours and then went off to find food.  The daddy robin stayed nearby to watch over the nest.  When I saw that there were two eggs inside, I opened the window screen to get a better picture this time but he immediately started jumping around the yard and chirping like a madman until I left.  He also kind of bushed up the feathers on the top of his head--to show he meant business I guess.  He was hoppin' mad, as they say.

We know this is the male robin because his head and back are darker, almost black.  The female robin's head and back are gray.  Compare the pictures of Clementine on the nest to Abner and see if you can tell the difference.  You can see even better pictures of male and female robins here.

I'm not sure if he was warning me to get away or calling for the mama to come back quick but either way he was a very good babysitter.

Sheriff's Log :: 26

They're Baaaack!  The Sheriff's Log and the meat salesmen!! 
But now the punctuation has gone missing!

APR 27

12:09 am     A man called reporting a loud noise, but couldn’t identify what kind of noise it was

11:19 am     A deer was reported hit

1:55 pm      Metal was reported stolen

2:39 pm      A lost steer was reported

APR 28

11:48 am    Students driving recklessly were reported

11:55 am    Suspicious activity was reported when a man tried to sell meat to a local woman

APR 29

6:36 pm      A gun was turned into the sheriff's office

APR 30

11:22 am    A minor traffic accident occurred in front of the courthouse

3:40 pm     A stray dog was reported

3:43 pm     A school bus stop arm violation was reported

4:43 pm     A school bus stop arm violation was reported

5:06 pm     Guadalajara reported people using their dumpster and dropping off furniture

MAY 1

4:58 am     A woman called reporting suspicious activity outside her garage door

7:10 pm     A dog at large was reported

10:55 pm   A loose horse was reported

11:28 pm   Kids were reported in front of a business's gates after it was closed

MAY 2

3:37 am     Threats were reported

2:01 pm     Vandalism was reported

6:18 p.m.   A vehicle hit a deer

11:16 pm   Narcotic information was reported

MAY 3

12:38 am   Reckless driving was reported

5:54 pm     A stolen red Subaru from Utah was recovered

6:00 am     Disturbing the peace was reported

11:15 pm   Fail to purchase occurred

Nest Cam :: Egg #1

WE HAVE A BIG SURPRISE TODAY!!!

Clementine laid this egg yesterday afternoon and then spent the rest of the day and evening off the nest.  We think she was probably tired from laying the egg and needed to eat a lot to store up energy to lay the next one.  

Can you even believe what a gorgeous color that little egg is?

Huck asked me a great question this morning:  Why are Robin's eggs blue?  Turns out that's not such an easy question to answer.

Birds nesting on the ground often lay brown or gray eggs that blend in with the surroundings. And birds that lay highly visible white eggs often conceal their nests in a hole. SOme scientists think  that the blue eggs of many songbirds might blend in at the bottom of a dark nest that is screened by leaves from above. This could help hide the eggs from predators such as squirrels, ravens, and jays.  In theory, blue eggs in nests might be hard to find but scientists haven't yet come up with any evidence.  Blue eggs are still a bit of a puzzle.

Did you know that emu's eggs are dark green like an avocado? And that a Chilean tinamou's eggs are purple? 

Early this morning Clementine was hunkered back down in her nest again.  We hope there's more good news to report tomorrow!