A robin claims the nest...

ready for eggs

I began to think that we had disturbed our mystery nest builder by opening the front door one too many times and that she had decided not to stay with us. Today she revealed herself--an American Robin. Still no eggs, but I have high hopes because she's been visibly present both on and off the nest today. The photo is unfocused because I blindly held my phone camera above the nest and shot as quickly as possible. At the beginning of the day, the nest had a dry, dirt floor. Then she began adding bits of dry grass to the bottom...the last step.

A few interesting facts I found online about robins and their nests:

The female robin is in charge of nest construction. Building the nest from the inside out, she presses dead grass and twigs into a cup shape using the wrist of one wing. Other materials can include paper, feathers, rootlets, and moss. Once the cup is formed, she reinforces the nest using soft mud gathered from worm castings to make a heavy, sturdy nest. Finally, she lines the nest with fine, dry grass. It takes 2 to 6 days to build the nest. When finished, it is 6-8 inches across and 3-6 inches high.

Who knew that birds had "wrists!" And worm castings? That's what's spattered on our front door? Eeeeeww....

gathering bits of grass in our backyard