Robins with or without grey faces? (3 Viewers)

[delia todd]

Over the years I've noticed European Robins have varying amounts of grey on their faces. Ranging from none, a little, through grey cheeks and sometimes a grey forehead. It was the forehead lack that I noticed first! These pictures will show some of the variations.

A wide band of grey encircling the red


This picture taken by @Donald Talbott has no grey: Robin

and this one by @Э́ллин has very little: European Robin

Then there's my Gallery upload today, which shows a really quite broad patch beside the cheeks, rather wider, I think than the strip below and above: Screened

My Collins has a small image of a Robin with very little grey over the forehead, but doesn't say anything about the bird. So is there anyone who can throw any light on these differences. I've been through a right range.... sex, immaturity, time of year. Anything else?

 

[Bezzer]

I thought they were just normal colour variations with no actual significance. My resident male robin is very pale chested with a bit of wishy/washy grey elsewhere, he's recently paired up (seen feeding) a smart looking female that has a lightish grey chest and strong darker grey head and sides.

 

[delia todd]

Thanks Bezzer, yes, that was another one I forgot to include it in the list. I could create an argument for all of them though LOL.

 

[mummymonkey]

Almost none on this one.

 

[dantheman]

I thought it was continental birds - of which we get a good few overwintering here.

 

[delia todd]

I thought it was continental birds - of which we get a good few overwintering here.

Interesting Dan.

I've got pictures (quick scan through) of two types at my upland out of town feeding station, taken the last few months. One has little to no grey the other quite a lot of grey but not over the forehead.

Another interesting point about 'continental' ones would be that I never see them arriving here in flocks either alone or with other migrants.

 

[pianoman]

There's something else about Delia's photo - the bluish tint to the grey parts may partly be a photo artefact but I can sometimes see this in real life. I have a feeling that if you had the enhanced colour vision of a bird, that grey would show as quite a bright colour. And many relatives of the Robin have blue in their plumage.

 

[delia todd]

There's something else about Delia's photo - the bluish tint to the grey parts may partly be a photo artefact but I can sometimes see this in real life. I have a feeling that if you had the enhanced colour vision of a bird, that grey would show as quite a bright colour. And many relatives of the Robin have blue in their plumage.

Then maybe it is related to sex or maybe age?

 

[Mike Crawley]

I thought it was continental birds - of which we get a good few overwintering here.

I too always thought that the birds with greater amounts of grey around their "face" etc. were continental birds. They often seem less confiding than the local robins.

 

[THE_FERN]

There is somewhere a thread about this. In an old RSPB magazine they stated the shape of the forehead colour differs in males and females. I think males pointed, females blunt. iirc people here said this not true but it was some time ago.

 

[delia todd]

I too always thought that the birds with greater amounts of grey around their "face" etc. were continental birds. They often seem less confiding than the local robins.

However, Э́ллин's picture I linked to in the OP was taken in Greece and my two pictures were taken in August (unless they, or their parents, didn't go 'home'?).

 

[delia todd]

There is somewhere a thread about this. In an old RSPB magazine they stated the shape of the forehead colour differs in males and females. I think males pointed, females blunt. iirc people here said this not true but it was some time ago.

Did they mean a centre 'point' TF? I'll have to look for that, as I've only really noticed a normal-type semicircle.

 

[jalid]

There is an article, Pettersson, Hjort, Lindström & Hedenström Vår Fågelvårld 5/90, about the variation of Robin based on birds migrating in Sweden and wintering in several areas in southern Europe. They concluded that males are greyer than females, and eastern birds are greyer than western ones, and have darker legs, and eastern first-winters have moulted less greater coverts.

 

[Mike Earp]

There is an article, Pettersson, Hjort, Lindström & Hedenström Vår Fågelvårld 5/90, about the variation of Robin based on birds migrating in Sweden and wintering in several areas in southern Europe. They concluded that males are greyer than females, and eastern birds are greyer than western ones, and have darker legs, and eastern first-winters have moulted less greater coverts.

Presumably this:

Pettersson J., Ch., Hjort, A. Lindström & A.Hedenström 1990. Wintering Robins, Erithacus rubecula, in the Mediterranean region and migrating Robins at Ottenby – a morphological comparison and an analysis of the migration pattern. Vår Fågelvärld 49: 267–278.

 

[Mike Crawley]

However, Э́ллин's picture I linked to in the OP was taken in Greece and my two pictures were taken in August (unless they, or their parents, didn't go 'home'?).

Thank you, I tried to follow the links on my phone but it wouldn’t play along.

 

[delia todd]

Thank you, I tried to follow the links on my phone but it wouldn’t play along.

Donald Talbot's


Э́ллин's


Mine


These are the three I linked to in the first post Mike.

 

[Jos Stratford]

Donald Talbot
View attachment 1630913

Looks more like a Robin to me

 

[delia todd]

Looks more like a Robin to me

Is that better?

 

[Jos Stratford]

Is that better?

No, adding the possessive s spoils my joke 😅

 

[delia todd]

No, adding the possessive s spoils my joke 😅

Too bad!!! 😺