Is an American Robin considered a kosher bird for Shiluah HaKan?
If the wild robin (if kosher) makes a nest on your front porch of your house, is there still a mitzva of shiluah haKan?
Answer
The American robin does indeed appear to be a kosher bird.
Once one has acquired the birds and the eggs one cannot perform the mitzvah of Shilu’ach Haken. Therefore, usually things that are ownerless that land on one’s porch, one acquires them automatically with a Kinyan Chatzer.
However, birds’ nests such as this one usually intends not to acquire, and so one may perform the mitzvah of Shilu’ach Haken.
שו”ע יו”ד סי’ רצב ס”ב.
