The nest appeared overnight. A couple of robins built it solidly on top of the porch light beside our front door.
Mrs. Robin spent a lot of time sitting on the nest. I could often see the top of her head and her bright, steady eye looking forward.
Before long, with the aid of a ladder, I was able to see 2 pale blue eggs, and the next day 3, and then 4 eggs in all. Mrs. Robin had settled resolutely into her task of brooding, waiting, and watching the world from her perch.
Then one day two magpies and a grackle appeared on the scene. She and Mr. Robin gave noisy chase before Mrs. Robin returned to the nest for more sitting.
I wondered how much warmth does the body of Mrs. Robin generate and transfer to her 4 blue eggs?
Each day the magpies and the grackle were relentless. coming and going, disturbing the peace and distracting Mrs. Robin from her task.
Yesterday evening I got out the ladder again, as I hadn’t seen Mrs. Robin on her nest for a few hours.
The nest was empty.
On the ground below the nest I spotted a fragment of blue shell. The grackle and the magpies, and the robins, were nowhere to be seen. They’d all moved on.
Through these days, I’d been cheering silently, and sometimes aloud for the robins. I didn’t want the grackle and the magpies to triumph.
Last year Mrs. Robin and her partner did hatch their 4 eggs, and 4 robin chicks eventually left the nest.
But not this year.