Robin Nest Day 5

The Robin again spent 30 minutes on the nest early this morning at 08:00, this time leaving a present, the first egg.

It’s normal for the Robins to lay their eggs early in the morning and as a typical clutch size is 3-5 eggs, each laid on a separate day, there should normally be additional eggs laid in the next days. Incubation will not start until all eggs are laid so that the first eggs do not develop much faster than the eggs laid last.

One point of surprise for me is that the egg appears to be white but Robin eggs are a light blue, as shown below. I think it must be blue but it is an effect of the camera and lighting making it look white.

The whole process is happening much faster than for the great tit nest I was watching last year. The Robin has laid it’s first egg only 4 days after it started to build the nest, by comparison the great tit laid it’s first egg 15 days after starting to build the nest.

It’s all happening much quicker in the world of the Robin.

The nest box condition at the end of the day (18:30) is shown below.