Many Questions

 May 4, 2012

A large nest made in after school!

Questions and conversations about robins and the nest are happening in many classrooms. In Kindergarten Brimmer children wondered:

How do robins protect the nest if a predator comes?

What is a predator for them? -I think it would be like a hawk or a falcon- Bennett
 
Why do the chicks leave the nest if they are just babies?  Clem
 
How do the eggs turn blue?  Riana
 
What does the mom¹s call to the dad sound like?  Anna
 
What if the chicks fly away when the parents go get food?  Skylar
 
How do robins find shade for the nest? What if the babies try to fly too early and fall? Laura
 
How did they make the inside of the nest so round and nice?  Memo
 
How is the egg made, and how does it come out of the mom?  Lucas

Yesterday Mr. Rogers came in to talk with ECCBrimmer  about the robin's nest and answer some of the questions we've been wondering about.

Mr. Rogers: There is a mama and papa robin. The robins mate and then the mama lays her eggs.  

Mariella: She lays one egg, two eggs, three eggs, four eggs, and then she stops.

Mr. Rogers: Robins used to be called the harbingers of spring.  You used to see a robin in March and know that spring was coming soon.  No longer because so many of them stay all winter. A lot of robins still fly down to North Carolina South Carolina, Florida, and as far south as Guatemala and South America.

Mr. Rogers: The eggs take two weeks to hatch and then another 2-3 weeks before the babies fly off. Then the mama and papa robin then make another brood. They often use the same nest in the same season but then make new ones the next year. Robins often have up to three broods in a season.

  

Bibi: Do robins pick up their nests and move it?

Mariella: They could put it on their back and move it. The male could put it on her back.

Mr. Rogers: Robins are also birds that start their nests with mud and it weighs as much as or more than the mama and papa bird together.  Could you pick up two of your classmates and fly? So the nests are too heavy for them to move.

Bibi: Do robins have summer houses?

Mr. Rogers: That nest is their summer house.

Chase: Some robins are so sensitive that you can't touch them.

Mr. Rogers: You are right, we should not touch them. In fact, when baby birds fledge, they often spend a day on the ground, so we will need to be very careful on the playground once they hatch.