Baby Robins, two days old, open beaks seeking food

2 years ago
20

Robin chicks are born undeveloped, and require constant feeding and caring by their parents. Their eyes are closed from hatching until about 5 days of age, where they will start opening, before fully opening at around 8 days old. They are also born with hardly any feathers and will mainly be a pink colour, it takes around 3 days for the feathers to start showing - although it'll take around 10 days for the body to be mostly covered in feathers. They are not very pretty when first hatched.
This Robin nest is located right at a front door, and although Mama Robin leaves the nest when humans come to check on the nest, she hovers close by keeping an eye on things. In the first few days, baby robins will mostly eat a diet of regurgitated foods from adult birds. As robins are omnivorous, this can include a whole range of things. Their diets are mainly a mixture of invertebrates, seeds and fruit. After they get a bit older, bigger chunks of food can be given to the chicks - who become more demanding a few days older.
The babies eat more each day. Soon parents give them whole worms and large insects. Each young robin may eat 14 feet of earthworms in a two-week nest life. Remarkably robins have been found to capture upwards of 20 earthworms an hour. Another way to look at the American robin's ability to pluck these slimy critters from the ground is illustrated by the fact that a single robin can eat up to fourteen feet of earthworms.
They will generally only nest where the food supply is plentiful, meaning that when the chicks hatch, there's no shortage of food.
Out of all the feathers to grow, the flight feathers are the last. Once a baby robin fledges the nest after approximately 14 days, they are usually unable to fly immediately and can take a couple more days to do so. During these first few days outside of the nest, you may see fledgling robins hopping about and practising their flight with short efforts.
Once young robins have fledged the nest, they will stay with their parents for up to three weeks. During this time, the fledged young will mostly be taken care of by the male birds - this is because the female will start preparation for the next brood. Robins may have 2 - 3 broods in a season.

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