Dr. Richard Collins
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
Yes, Derek, of course the male does help.
He does feed the babies.
In the robin world, the robins, they have a division of labour, but the female does all the incubating.
She sits on the eggs, she lays the eggs, of course, and she sits on them.
He doesn't help out there.
But once the babies arrive, he feeds them and she feeds them.
Now, in Ireland, they normally produce two broods.
You see, after about a fortnight, the youngsters are gone.
And a few weeks after that, they're fledged.
Now, before they fledge, she's starting to lay her next clutch.
And he then takes over to feed the babies on the first clutch of babies on his own, more or less.
So they're very cooperative.
But at the end of the season, however, they go their separate ways.
lovey-dovey throughout the year.
They're only lovey-dovey through the breeding season.
And the daddy is a rather aggressive little fellow, you know.
He doesn't tolerate other robins around at all.