A nesting crunch sees the true story of ‘Avian Sister Wives’ unfold on St. Thomas, Ont., porch [Video]

Finding a robin’s nest on the front porch was nothing new for St. Thomas, Ont., resident Debra Copeland, but finding a nest shared by two squabbling female robins, eight eggs and a couple visiting male birds was a different story. 

During a typical spring, Copeland said she sees no more than five light blue eggs in a robin’s nest. That’s why she was surprised to see more packed into a brand new nest above her porch light at the end of April, and put up a camera to investigate. 

“I was shocked and amazed that by the night, there were two females incubating the nest at the same time,” she said, adding that the relationship was tenuous at first. 

“At the beginning, you could tell they were very unhappy with one another … They would bite each other’s beaks, peck at each other, they’d jump on top of each other …