In a tree near my home there was a robin’s nest. The mother robin was always flying in and out, and although I knew there was a nest there, I was unaware of the babies.. One day I noticed that the bird hadn’t been around for awhile, so I took a peak in the nest and saw these adorable little babies.
I think the mother abandonded them for some reason, or maybe she died or was caught by a cat. Who knows.
The reason their mouths are open like that is because they instinctively do this when the mother is not in the nest. They wait with their mouths open for her to return and plop food into their mouth.
I took an old flannel shirt I found that was colored similar to a robin and wrapped it in a wad somewhat resemblimg the shape of a bird. I put a small piece of an earthworm I dug up in the garden onto a piece of masking tape connected to the flannel so I could dangle it into the bird’s mouth without touching the birds or scaring them. I did this everyday for almost a week and then one day they were both gone.. They weren’t on the ground, so I assume they either finally left the nest or were also eaten by a cat or something.
I wanted to hold them but I heard if the mother smells human scent on them, she will abandon them and was hoping she’d come back for them eventually. Needless to say, I don’t know what happened to the birds or their mother but it was really neat to feed them and watch them.