Chapter 1: What observation did Sean Murray make about Daddy Robins?
This is Mooney Goes Wild on RTE Radio 1.
Robins.
Good morning Derek and good morning to all your listeners in this beautiful world of nature we have. I thought I'd like to share a magnificent sighting I had the other day while out in my garden. I was sitting down by my table and I spotted five little birds on my fence. On the left mummy robin, three little baby robin chicks and on the right was daddy robin and what I saw really astounded me.
Both mummy robin and daddy robin were feeding the chicks with worms from my garden. What I thought was really unusual was that daddy bird was feeding the chicks as well. Is this normal or is this something new? That's my view. It was absolutely thrilling to see it.
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. They're not...
lovey-dovey throughout the year. They're only lovey-dovey through the breeding season.
Yeah, it's true. Especially when you see then Christmas cards and you see two or three robins on them together. That does not happen. The only time I ever see robins together is during the breeding season and I see them in the back garden because they nest regularly in the back garden. And like Richard says, they have... Generally, in my garden, about three clutches.
And I know it is said that they build a new nest and they move on to new nests. But there's one particular small robin nest box in the garden, down the bottom of the garden. And they use that religiously. They're in it again. And like Richard said as well, too, as soon as that first clutch leaves the nest... He tends to stay with them. So it's only him that I will see in the garden feeding.
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Chapter 2: Is it normal for Daddy Robins to feed the chicks?
Yes, but because they weren't a very social bird, because they didn't spread it, because they didn't tell other robins, it never really passed on.
Talking about robins, a memory comes back and seeing you here. We went to Navan once, to a hospital, you and I. It was Monaghan, Richard.
Are you sure? Yeah, it was the hospital in Monaghan. And the robin had nested on the shelf behind the catering manager's desk, if I'm not mistaken.
That's right. The robins are very resourceful in many ways, you know. They won't tolerate other robins around and they're very aggressive. But at the same time, they're very opportunistic and they nest in the most unlikely places.
Chapter 3: How do male and female Robins share parenting duties?
Nests have been found in old boots and holes in walls and all kinds of places.
Well, there was a report I did about two years ago now in a barber shop, Hammo's Barber Shop in Coolmine in West County, Dublin, whereby a robin was nesting. You remember that, Derek? It was nesting in the barbers Yeah, I do, of course. In behind where all his equipment was. That was fantastic.
Yeah, and there I went to see him one day when it was closed because I didn't want to disturb him and his work and so on. So I went over to see him. So we were sitting in chatting and you could see where the robin come in and just would pass by where somebody would be sitting there chatting. getting their hair cut.
So you could imagine someone there, some big guy, and he's sitting there having his hair cut. And the next thing, this thing whizzes by him and into the nest. He said some of his punters, they couldn't believe it. But then he was so disappointed when they finished. And I told him, I'm glad to be here.
About three weeks or so later, he rang me again just to say, you won't believe it, but there's a second clutch.
Oh my goodness. Well, we'll have to revisit more of your reports in the near future, Terry. Thank you.
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Chapter 4: What is the breeding behavior of Robins in Ireland?
And thank you also to Sean Murray for sending in that voice note, that observation he made. And if you see something and you'd like to know the answer to a question, well, do it the way Sean did.