No, birds aren't able to move their eggs or their nestlings. A mother bird may sometimes abandon a nest, but just touching or adjusting or even changing the nest will not cause her to leave it.
Robins do not have the strength to pick up and carry their babies. If you find a baby robin outside of its nest, place it back if it is young and featherless, or leave it to learn to fly if it has grown all its feathers.
Your robin will probably settle on one site and just lay eggs in that nest, or else just incubate eggs in that nest after laying, say, one egg in one nest and two in the other. She won't lay two complete sets of eggs and try to incubate both of them at the same time.
Nest-site fidelity grows during the nesting season. The more time and energy the birds invest in the nest, the less likely they are to abandon it when disturbed. However, actually MOVING the nest is not merely a disturbance: it makes the entire nest environment DIFFERENT.
While she incubates the new brood, the male continues taking care of the older babies. He leads them to a stand of trees in the evening where they will roost with other robins. By the time the new eggs hatch, the older babies are ready to be on their own, and the male is able to help feed the new babies.
Mother birds only spend a few days sleeping with the babies after they hatch. For the most part, they do not sleep in the nest with their babies unless the temperature is low enough to jeopardize the survival rate of the babies. The young grow feathers quickly and soon are able to retain their own heat.
The young are tended by their parents for up to three weeks after fledging. Frequently the care of the fledged young is left to the male, while the female prepares herself for the next nesting effort.
Birds normally don't mourn the loss of young chicks. The parents are usually so preoccupied with making sure the remaining chicks stay alive that they don't really notice the death. With pigeons and doves , this is almost always the case.
But the bigger and louder they get, and the more time that passes, the greater the risk that a predator will discover the nest. To avoid losing their entire brood, songbird parents try to hustle their adolescents along, eventually forcing them from the nest.
At night, Dad leads them to a roost tree with other dads and babies. The young robins learn how to be in a flock. At first, fledglings hide as much as they can because they are defenseless. Speckling helps hide them.
Squirrels, snakes, and other birds have been known to eat robin eggs and chicks. Predators to adult robins include hawks, snakes, and cats. These birds are easily spotted hopping around city parks and lawns, searching for food in flocks.
Robins only abandon their eggs when something happens that tells the robins they will have a poor chance of success. It seems unlikely that humans will have greater success. I know how sad it is to see these beautiful eggs and how very tempting it is to want to save the tiny babies inside.
Robin is Ready
Fledglings are strong, independent birds just 12-15 days after leaving the nest. By summer's end, most juveniles look like adults. During this time, they are living and flying with a flock. They'll keep learning from the experienced adults in the flock.
It's perfectly safe to pick up a fallen nestling and put it back in the nest, or to carry a fledgling out of danger and place it in a tree or shrub.
The baby robins will never return to this nest! Nests for most birds are NOT houses at all--they're just baby cradles. Now the babies will start sleeping in sheltered tree branches, as adult robins do.
On average, though, only 40 percent of nests successfully produce young. Only 25 percent of those fledged young survive to November. From that point on, about half of the robins alive in any year will make it to the next.
Pale blue or "robin's-egg blue." Incubation by female, 12-14 days. Young: Both parents feed young, though female does more. Parents very aggressive in defense of nest. Young leave the nest about 14-16 days after hatching.
Parent birds are just as caring toward their hatchlings, which may be a demonstration of parental love. While these emotions may not last beyond one breeding season or brood, they can be strong bonds nonetheless.
Birds Do Have Brains
And they are exceptionally intelligent creatures when it comes to socialization. In fact, it's the complex responses seen from bird socialization that leads scientists to believe they experience emotions at least to some degree.
It is difficult to say conclusively whether birds have the awareness of understanding life and death. There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that points to birds mourning the loss of other birds, however. Many bird species pair up and mate for life, creating an understandably deep bond.
There are some effective ways to help a grieving bird, such as providing an environment with low-stress activities, avoiding loud noise and sudden changes, introducing a new companion bird if appropriate, providing comforting touches, and providing plenty of time for rest and relaxation.
While robins might repair or build on top of a previous nest, most of them build a new nest. This is best for many reasons. A used nest is a mess, stretched out and often home to insects or parasites and possibly poop. Take the nest down and the nest site will be ready for the next robin family.
When do young robins learn to fly? A. Baby robins jump from their nest when they are about 13 days old. It takes them another 10-15 days to become strong fliers and independent birds.
On The Nest
Mother robins may start incubating their eggs during the evening after the second egg is laid, or after all the eggs are laid. They sit on the eggs for 12 to 14 days. The female usually does all the incubating. Even in good weather, she rarely leaves her eggs for more than 5 to 10 minutes at a time.