Oops they did it again! UAB robins shatter Alabama natural history record with 3 more babies

Remember our “Thanksgiving Miracle” American robin babies story last year?

The day after Thanksgiving 2019, birding expert Greg Harber discovered on the campus of UAB, the first ever confirmed nest of baby robins in Alabama, during the month of November.

Remarkably, according to Greg Jackson, the keeper of bird records in Alabama, the latest robins had been seen nesting in Alabama was on September 2nd.

Eventually, only one of the baby robins left the nest, and with great sadness, we reported the baby robin named “Blaze” passed on December 12th.

Oops they did it again!

Evidently, the mom and dad robins, who reside in a UAB courtyard, did not give up having offsprings. On or around December 13th, three additional eggs were laid by the mom.

Harber, with the help of longtime conservationist Wendy Jackson, then named this extraordinary robin mom – Fedele – which means “Faithful one” in French and Italian.

The robin babies hatched on December 27th and this past Friday, January 10, the three nestlings left their nest!

As of Sunday evening, all three robins survived the storms on Saturday afternoon.

She persists

Harber is particularly in awe of Fedele, a robin he has now been watching since Thanksgiving.

“It has been a fun, learning and educational adventure for me in terms of observing their behavior. Kinda in awe with Fedele. Despite all the obstacles, she persists in doing her job, whether it is cold or rainy. She only has 10 hours to feed them, when in the summer time she has 14 hours of daylight. That’s what makes it a real struggle, all the odds are stacked against her. Yet she still persist and manages to overcome.”

He recognized the robin dad too, who has been dubbed Lazerus by Harber because he leaves days at a time and has been given up for dead a couple of times, but always come back to the courtyard

Baby Robins – Faith, Hope and Love

Along with Harber, the three natural history making family of robins have been watched and monitored by Sandra Allison and Samm Bartee over the Christmas holiday and UAB winter break. They have also provided the robins and other birds in the courtyard, including a pesky mockingbird mealworms.

Now that the three baby robins have left the nest, Harber has given them names too.

“We named the kids “Faith, Hope and Love – from Chapter 13 in I Corinthian,” he told us.

Weather is Favorable

The next few days are going to be critical for the young robins survival. Fortunately, the weather has been abnormally warm and will remain so throughout the week.

What’s next? Fedele continues to help feed the newborns and hopefully they will become strong enough to survive the winter. It is all new territory, since no one has ever witnessed an American robin born after September in Alabama, let alone 4 months later in December.

Updates to Follow

Like Blaze in December, we will provide updates in the coming days about the miracle UAB American robins.

Stay tuned, to Bham Now.