SUN CITY – All the years Jerry and Patty Case saved for their retirement, they never quite planned on actually having a real nest egg to care for someday. But that’s what they got when robins went to work on their front stoop, constructed a perfect nest inside a decorative planter box, and laid three eggs.
A robins’ nest built inside the planter box on of Sun City residents Jerry and Patty Case’s front stoop. (Photo by Chris LaPelusa/Sun Day)
About three weeks ago, Patty noticed the nest before the robins laid eggs.
“I thought, ‘Where did that nest come from?’” Patty said. “‘I didn’t put it there.’”
Shortly after, Patty and Jerry noticed the robins and said, “The birds were always very excited whenever we opened the door. They were mad. So we knew that they were going to lay eggs.”
The nest sits approximately at shoulder height, giving the Cases and visitors a direct view into the nest.
“I would peek out every once in a while and find that there was one egg and, then about two or three days later, there were two more,” Patty said.
The Cases and visitors stopped using the front door, as even just slightly opening the front door agitated the robins.
“We stayed away,” Patty said. “And told our neighbors ‘Don’t come the front way.’
“Then,” Patty continued, “All of a sudden, the birds were gone.”
Neither Cases have seen the robins in more than a week and assumed that they abandoned the nest due to its poor location. However, Patty researched robins and found that, depending on if the eggs have been incubated or not, it’s not uncommon for robins to leave a nest after eggs are laid for up to almost 25 days before returning before the baby birds hatch.
If the robins don’t return, the Cases decided to leave the nest there for possible future use by robins or other birds. They are undecided on what to do with the eggs, if “mom and dad” don’t return.
