How long do bird's eggs take to hatch?

[Vanisle_BC]

How long do bird's eggs take to hatch? Maybe a silly question - depends on the species I suppose. But in this case it's a Junco sitting on 4 eggs under a rhubarb clump. I accidentally scared her off 2-3 times before realizing she had a nest with eggs in there. That was maybe 3 days ago. I'm hoping the eggs are still viable. She does take off and leave them for what seem like significant periods, but always comes back & sits on them.

[MichaelC]

Google says 12-13 days give or take.

[Vanisle_BC]

Thanks Michael - forgot Google knows everything. 12-13 days? Yikes! The nest seems very vulnerable (crows, jays, robins, snakes!. I've put more big leaves over it and my interference hasn't stopped her coming back to sit on the eggs.

[BirdLover]

I had a junco nest in my yard once. Yes, their ground nests do seem so vulnerable. The best thing to do is to leave the nest alone. It's so tempting to want to peak at the nest. I took some pictures and now I feel guilty about it because the parents were so watchful of me. I'm sure they didn't approve. So now I try to make up for my selfishness by putting millet under the bushes for the juncos.

[Vanisle_BC]

The best thing to do is to leave the nest alone.

I'm absolutely sure that's right. In my case the damage was already done, and the nest very much exposed by me, before I knew it was there. You mention the parents being concerned but I've only seen the one that sits on the eggs. The nest's now hidden beneath fallen rhubarb leaves and I can't tell whether she's there.

A friend had a junco nest with babies, at eye level in her back-door hanging flower basket.

[BirdLover]

Well, enjoy your little junco nest. I remember how fun it was to have one in my yard. I felt protective of it, like you. Juncos come to my yard regularly. I feed them the same millet sprays that I give to my cockatiel. I see them fly over to the arborvitaes across the street, so perhaps that is where they have their nests. They like to hang out on the ground underneath my honeyberry bushes. I guess there are several types of juncos. Mine are dark-eyed juncos. Or black-eyed. I need to look it up. Dark-eyed I think is correct. They are so cute. tic-tic-tic

[Vanisle_BC]

We enjoy them the juncos very much. Ours live under a very big rhodo/hydrangea/spirea thicket right behind our outdoor dining table. Never saw their nest(s) but we see them coming and going, and hear them scuttling about in there, among the dry leaves. This is the first time I've seen a nest "out in the open."