I had previously had House Finches nest in the wreath on our front door in 2010 and 2011. But before then, in 2008, they nested above this same rain gutter in the front NE corner of our house. So I figured what the heck, let's wedge the Bird-Cam in there (very tight fit) and see what we can get.
Once Mom lays her eggs, I expect her to be on the nest almost 7x24 ... so I got everything assembled and quickly put it in place when she wasn't there. The Dome Webcam doesn't move at all and I was glad (but not surprised) to see that Mom returned after it was installed. I also saw (as of May 21st) that she was not spending the night there ... but would come by mostly in the mornings to do some further tidy-up of the nest, but not much more "building" ... as it looks ready to go to me. I haven't seen much of the Dad ... except for a quick stop to (literally) "jump" on the Mom to mate!
As implied above, I was confident she would "accept" the (non-moving) webcam,
especially since she had invested time in the nest already.
I'm more worried
that a neighborhood hawk (there are many around!) (or even the family of foxes) will get her - lets hope not.
Momma Robin laid her first egg on May 22nd, the second on May 23rd, and the third one on May 25th. She was on the nest continuosly every night since May 22nd ... but flew off on June 2nd ... and has not been seen since ...:-(
A pair of Finches were checking out the nest, so on June 4th, I removed the eggs ... but I may have been a day late as I haven't seen them since - darn!
May 19th: Webcam setup for monitoring - bottom of webpage has more pictures of the setup.
May 21st: The nest is quite deep and well formed ... no eggs ... yet
May 22nd: BIG change in behavior - instead of just brief morning visits, Momma is at the nest for many hours
May 23rd: Momma lays second egg at precisely 12:10 (real-time video) as she lets out a sigh of relief! ;-)
May 24th: Interesting/unusual happenings this morning as Momma leaves nest, then a couple of Finches check it out, I think (?) Poppa chases them off ... but then they come back again - watch the full video here
May 25th: Another day, another egg from Mamma Robin - that's three!
May 31st and June 1st: Saying "HI" to Momma Robin (still three eggs)
For comparison, I'm pretty certain this is the Male Robin
Added a nightlight to provide better illumination for the camera
June 1st-2nd: Yet another sleepless night for Momma Robin - her last full one it turns out :-(
June 2nd: Robin departs nest ... and doesn't return ... :-(
June 3rd: More Finch and MALE (?) Robin action - quick Time-lapses here and here
June 4th: MALE (?) Robin comes by briefly as Finches look like they are ready to move in!
June 4th: I remove the robin eggs from the nest to entice the Finches to move in - maybe a day too late?
June 6th: Male Robin comes by briefly (wasp at end) ... no sign of the finches for two days - ... :-(
June 6th-7th: The nest is empty for 25 hours ... :-(
June 13th: A Blue Jay comes by - probably hoping to get some "breakfast" as happened back in 2008.
June 14th: Finches stop by ... and a FOX shows up at the same time!
Here's what the Robin's Nest (and camera) look like on my house
Added a nightlight to provide better illumination for the camera