Robins!

4/26, 10:34 AM
A few days ago I was looking out my window, and saw a female robin sitting on one of the branches of the ceder tree outside my window. She was squatting down near the base of the branch (near the trunk), and kept shifting around, in a circle. I'd no idea what she was doing at the time...
The the next morning I woke up, and there's all kinds of sticks and leaves and fluff underneath her--she's building a nest!!! Right outside my window!! Very exciting, seeing as I've never seen how a bird does this.
Mostly Ive watched her gather fluffy things, like bits of dead leaves and lichen, put them in her nest, and then squat on them. It seems she's making sure she still fits, and/or shaping the nest to her body. She somestimes squats lower and it looks like she's moving her back feet very rapidly... it's hard to tell what she's doing in there. There seems to be a few strong sticks at the base for support, but I wonder if she'll start weaving other sticks and twigs around the fluff, like I've seen most nests built. I even saw her put a shiny silver ribbon in it... she apparently likes to glam it up.
She works very diligently in the mornings, but I haven't seen her much in the afternoon. I haven't checked in the evening yet...
Lately I've been seeing a male contribute to her nest building too, and I'm gonna assume he's her mate. He'll bring a little something to the nest, and will do the same squat/kick-feet-around thing that she does. Once I saw the female chase the male out, and I wondered for a minute if he was trying to invade her nest... but it looked like she had something to put in the nest too and wanted him OUT!
If you haven't guessed already, this is very exciting for me to watch! There's a reason I'm going into animal biology, because I could seriously watch and learn about these sorts of things all freakin' day... can I just skip the rest of my classes to watch these birds? It's the closest thing to my field I'm learning about all quarter... except dinosaurs.
And that's another thing! Just think about it... I'm watching little dinosaurs build a nest! I do think about how this would relate to nest-building in dinosaurs...
What should I name her? How about her mate?
Updates will come as things happen!

**UPDATE #!**
4/26, 11:05 AM
I've set up my camera on my tripod so it's looking outside my window... it'd be really creepy if I weren't being all scientific, seeing as I'm spying on a budding new family...
Female Robin's putting lots more moss in the nest now... is she making the bed her children will rest in? Most likely.

**UPDATE #2!**
4/27, 8:55ish AM
I woke up to have my glorious moring full of science midterms, and was thrilled to see the robin pair back at work on their nest. A little later I heard loud scolding calls from a robin nearby, and then saw a robin angrily chasing and pecking at another bird as they flew by, driving it away from the nesting site. I only caught a glimpse of the intruder... but I'm pretty sure it had a black body with a brown head. If what I saw was true, then good job, robins, for chasing away a cowbird. Cowbirds aren't bad birds, per se, but they are bad for other nesting birds. They kinda like the "freeloaders" of nesters--they'll pick a nest, lay an egg in it, and when that baby hatches (often before the other eggs do), it'll push the other eggs/hatchlings out of the nest. The parents will still look after it as if it were their own... I guess they're not programmed to differentiate between their own young and another species' young. Anyway, I saw some territory-defendin', so it was cool. Makes me wish I didn't have to go leave to take two icky midterms...

**UPDATE #3!**
4/28-4/29
I wasn't around much to observe the robins in action, but I now see a whole bunch of mud fortification around there nest, making it look like a solid, classic cup-shape that we all imagine nests to be. It looks like it might be finished, cause I haven't seen them around it for a while. And in that cause, Ruby might be laying her eggs by now. Yes, the female has a name now. American Robins are famous for their bright red ventral areas, and even though the females have more of a rusty orange than bright scarlet, Ruby's a girl's name, so she'll get it. Plus I like that new song by the Kaiser Chiefs, and I really wanna find it...
The male still needs a name.

**UPDATE#4!**
5/1, 3:30PM
So first comes the nest... then comes the babies. So I thought. But in Ruby's case, she might have to wait a while longer for those babies, unless I'm completely misinterpreting bird behavior. She's sitting outside on a branch right, post-coital. Yeah, you heard me. I looked outside right in time to see her and her mate, well, mating. It only lasted a few seconds, and then he flew off, and she continued to do a sort of side-strut along the branch, her slightly-unfolded wings fluttering.
Earlier today I was REALLY confused because I saw another female robin in Ruby's territory. I had second thoughts as to who was Ruby, but this bird did NOT look like her, much fluffier and a duller orange on her chest. Ruby would chase and peck the other female once in a while, but for the most part they just kinda hopped from one branch to another sat there... you weird birds.
There are silver ribbons very obviously intergrated into their nest. It looks pretty.
Still need a name for the male...
Happy May Day!

Existentialism

I'm not happy, I'm selfish for thinking my life sucks, and the only thing that can do something about it is me, who has no more motivation.

I hate it when I realize this.