- Turdus migratorius
Identification
25–28 cm (10–11 in) long. It weighs about 77 g (2.7 oz)
- Gray upperparts and head
- Brick-red breast in male, orange in female, with white belly and undertail coverts
- White eye-ring, interrupted at front and back.
Breeding male: distinctive black head feathers
Distribution
Bird of North America. Breeds over most of North America, in the east as far as Labrador and Newfoundland.
Northern birds are migratory leaving breeding areas in August-September and eastern birds winter from Newfoundland southwards, returning late March-mid May.
In the Western Palearctic recorded in Iceland (four records) and the British Isles, France and Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Czechoslovakia and Austria, also recently in Spain.
Most frequently seen in Britain and Ireland (>30) mostly September-February with occasional records April-June. The records are scattered from Shetland to Scilly but there is a distinct bias towards the Northen Isles and the south-west.
Taxonomy
Subspecies
There are 7 subspecies[1]:
- T. m. nigrideus:
- T. m. migratorius:
- T. m. achrusterus:
- T. m. caurinus:
- South-eastern Alaska and western Canada to north-western Oregon; winters to California
- T. m. propinquus:
- Eastern British Columbia to south-western US and south-western Mexico; winters to Guatemala
- T. m. phillipsi:
- Eastern Mexico (south-western Tamaulipas to Puebla, Guerrero and Oaxaca)
- T. m. confinis: Pale gray-brown underparts.
- Mountains of southern Baja California (Sierra de la Laguna)
Habitat
Open woodland and clearings in forest, farmland with copses and hedgerows, often in lowlands and frequently near water. In many areas has become an urban bird breeding in town parks and gardens.
Behaviour
Diet
Consists of about 40 percent invertebrates, such as beetle grubs, caterpillars and grasshoppers, and 60 percent wild and cultivated fruits and berries. Frequently seen running across lawns, running and stopping with an stiff erect posture, then stopping to pick up prey, which it locates by sight, not hearing.
Breeding
The female builds the nest and lays three or four blue eggs in the lined cup. The female does most of the incubation and it takes around a month for the chicks to fledge. There is often a second brood, the male caring for the fledglings whilst the female incubates the new clutch.
Bird banders found that only 25% of young robins survive the first year.
References
- Clements, JF. 2011. The Clements Checklist of Birds of the World. 6th ed., with updates to August 2011. Ithaca: Cornell Univ. Press. ISBN 978-0801445019. Spreadsheet available at http://www.birds.cornell.edu/clementschecklist/downloadable-clements-checklist
- Robins Nestcam
- Shepherd Software
- Surfbirds
- Absolute Astronomy
- Wikipedia
Recommended Citation
- BirdForum Opus contributors. (2024) American Robin. In: BirdForum, the forum for wild birds and birding. Retrieved 19 April 2024 from https://www.birdforum.net/opus/American_Robin
External Links
