I don't think I've seen a robin pick up anything in its feet. Maybe your employee saw a sharpie carry a baby bird to a branch for lunch.

Kelly Cassidy

----- Original Message -----
From: K Scarbrough
To: Tweeters
Sent: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 9:15 AM
Subject: Moving baby birds


My employee and her family are not avid birders so I took her story with a grain of salt:

A new pair of tree swallows looked "frantic" to get into a birdhouse at their lake house but were unable to fit. They took the house down, enlarged the hole, shaking and inspecting the box, even turning it upside down, there was nothing inside. The next day the parents were heard and seen feeding babies inside the box. 1 1/2 weeks later, the couple was back and confirmed actually seeing three babies inside the box.

This couple also said they watched a mother robin whose babies had fallen from the nest in a wind storm, pick them up in her feet and fly them back to the nest.

Amazing! Has anyone else heard of parents relocating baby birds? I didn't know this happened.

Kerri W. Scarbrough
Woodinville, WA