Aggressive robin (1 Viewer)

I am new to bird behavior but greatly enjoy watching them. I live in an apt. and on my balcony have a large platform feeder and a suet ball feeder. All the many birds get along well except the one robin whom I have named Thug! He goes after every bird except ones his size, like the pileated woodpecker. After he eats, he sits in the platform feeder keeping other birds away. If any comes near, he flies at them. He also doesn't seem too smart - all the other birds use the suet feeder but he can't figure out how - he tried a few times and there was a great flapping of wings. He didn't seem to be able or know how to grasp the frame. Since I am new to birds, I wondered if his behavior is common? Thanks.

Yes, fairly common - they'll monopolise a feeder if they can. If you have the option, put up two feeders so that one feeder can't be seen from the other; then the Robin hogs one, while other birds can feed undisturbed at the other.

PS welcome to Birdforum!

Thanks! He is a character!

Hi cbrundage and a warm welcome to you from those of us on staff here at BirdForum and from me in Myrtle Beach

My Robins seem to be more on the polite side as I rarely see them at my feeder but always on the ground under the feeders

Thanks for the welcome! I think my robin is straight out of The Godfather! I do enjoy watching the birds. I just wish I could identify the many small ones which all look so much the same to me.

See if you can get a picture of the bird(s) in question and post it in our I D sub-forum. You'll get a quick answer from out geniuses

I'll try but I don't know if it will work. My balcony is in shadow so all the birds look either dark brown or like silhouettes and if I get close to the sliding glass door, they fly off. I can only identify birds with distinctive coloring like the goldfinch, the downy and the pileated woodpecker, the 2 mourning doves, the cardinal. All the small ones are a mystery to me except for the chick-a-dee whose white stripes along the side of the head are easy to spot..