Welcome to the homepage of Margot and Jackie!
They’re back!! Margot has returned to the nest and started laying brood two. Follow along each day as we watch from first egg to first flight of our little robin family!
After returning home from a trip, we found a robin’s nest above a lamp next to our front door. A few days later there was an egg, then two, three, and finally four!
Well, what else could we do but watch …and start using the back door π
Thanks to Mrs. Cooney’s 7th grade English class for naming our robins! Check out the live stream above, and see the posts below for all the latest updates.
During offline hours, check out the most recent day via the YouTube playlist here.
Who’s Who Here?
It can be tricky to tell Margot (Momma) and Jackie (Papa) apart, but here’s how to do it.
First, Margot is the only one who will sit on the nest. Also, Margot has a bit of a darker beak on the top, while Jackie’s is bright yellow.
Jackie also has a darker head and more vibrant reddish orange belly.
Robin Cam 1
Wednesday, May 29
All good things must come to an end, and we had to say goodbye to our robins today, courtesy of a FedEx delivery. Quite the surprise for the driver! 
They went in about 3 different directions, but momma and papa appeared to reconnect with them. One made it all the way across the street and up into another tree with a nest in it!
Saturday, May 18
Let the feeding frenzy begin!
Four mouths to feed means lots of work for momma and papa. We’re talking dozens of trips each, back and forth to gather worms, ants, and flies. Jackie seems to have a knack for finding big juicy caterpillars too!
We’ve been keeping a close eye on babies 3 & 4 as they play catch-up with their “older” siblings. They’re still noticeably smaller than the other two, but that might not last long. They got plenty of food today, so don’t worry! Speaking of eating…
Are momma and papa eating the babies… poop??
Yep. In the days right after hatching the babies’ digestive system is still getting started, so much of the food they are eating is only partially digested. So, maybe think of it as just… leftovers.
It’s important for this to happen in order for the nest to remain clean. What does pass is wrapped in what’s called a fecal sac. As the babies digestion kicks into gear, the parents may start to carry the sac away from the nest.
You can read more about this interesting little aspect of baby robin life here: https://journeynorth.org/tm/robin/FecalSacs.html
Friday, May 17
Overnight we had another friend join the party! We’re up to three now, with one egg remaining.
Friday PM Update
And just like that! π£π£π£π£
Egg number four started hatching this afternoon at 2:45.
Hillari noticed the first cracks forming, and in just about 30 minutes, with some helpful taps from Margot, we got our first peek at #4!
Thursday, May 16
Hatch day is here! We were surprised when we turned on the camera this morning to see an egg had already hatched!
About 30 minutes later a second egg started to pip and within about 15 minutes we had a second hatch.
There are still two eggs in the nest. Those should hopefully hatch in the next day or two.
Stay tuned!
Thursday PM Update: Looks like we may have another hatch soon! The third egg has a couple holes that have appeared. Keep a close eye on this one! We will keep the stream online as long as there is daylight.
Monday, May 6
We have 4 eggs! The incubation period started approximately May 5, which means we should be looking for a hatch around the weekend of May 18 & 19.
Beginning May 17 we’ll keep the stream online during daylight hours. Until then, we will stream daily between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m.