Imagine yourself all bundled up, piping hot cup of coffee warming your hands, satisfying your taste buds and slowly drawing your brain out of its morning fog, the air is cool and crisp, but invigorating, almost as invigorating as the coffee, you can see your breath swirl and mingle with the steam of the coffee and all is blissfully quiet, everything is still tucked and cuddled away in heavenly sleep, dead to the world, even the sun is not “up” yet, and then...out of the darkness, shattering the nocturnal silence comes the harbinger of dawn, nature’s wake up call, to announce the beginning of a glorious new day, the rich, melodious song of a robin.
Get real! Hard to imagine yourself getting up before dawn to listen to the birds? Sounds totally crazy? Me too! Until 2 things happened: I read What the Robin Knows by Jon Young and had the profoundly disturbing and motivating realization that I have spent the majority of my three plus decades on this planet outdoors, completely oblivious to an entire symphony of communication and understanding that was constantly going on around me. That was all the motivation and inspiration I needed, and my sunrise sit spot has become a part of my daily routine, sometimes the best part, the benefits of which are too numerous to list here, and of which I highly recommend you find out for yourself. In this spirit of inspiration and appreciation, for this month’s animal profile I proudly present the American Robin, in sincere hopes that you too will come to know its predawn song and individual habits and behaviors well.
The American Robin (Turdus migratorius) is one of the most common and well known birds in all of North America, with its classic, distinctive brick red breast and gray to black head, tail and wings.
The American robin is a medium sized pot-bellied, migratory bird in the Thrush family weighing in on average at 2.7 oz. and measuring 23-28cm with a wing-span of 31-41cm.
Robins live and breed throughout North America, from Alaska and Canada to Florida and Mexico. While robins occasionally overwinter in the northern part of the United States and southern Canada, many depart to migrate to the southern US and Mexico by late August and begin their return north in February or March, with exact dates varying with latitude, climate and variations in seasonal weather. [We see robins all year long here in Oregon, so you it's not too late to start listening this Fall and Winter! JJ]
Robins are mostly active during the day and their rich song is commonly the first of the morning in Spring and summer, often starting before sunrise. During breeding season in spring and summer, robins form monogamous pair bonds that last through the breeding season. The mated pairs forage, nest, protect and care for young together.
Outside of breeding season, in winter, robins are more social and form and forage in large flocks of hundreds, thousands and even hundreds of thousands, often concentrating around winter food sources such as berry producing trees. Fruit, especially berries account for 60% of the robins’ year round diet with insects, worms, and spiders comprising the majority of their summer diet when they are feeding young and foraging in breeding pairs and are less social. Robins often forage on the ground for worms and insects, especially in the morning and are known for their characteristic, stop, start foraging motion, where they run quickly for several steps and stop abruptly and stare or cock their head apparently listening before plunging in for prey. Robins use vision, hearing and smell and possibly vibrotactile cues to locate prey with vision being the most predominant.
In spring, males arrive to nesting grounds before females and establish and defend their territories by singing and occasionally fighting. In the early stages of courtship, a female may be pursued by several males. Males court females by spreading and raising their tails, shaking their wings, inflating their white-striped throats, and of course singing. During spring pairing, mates may engage in a display where the male and female approach one another and hold their bills wide open, then touch them together.
Females do most of the nest building, forming the nests from inside out by pressing grasses, twigs, and debris into a cup using the wrist of one wing. Nests are lined with fine grass and plant fibers and coated with a solid outer foundation of mud and debris. Nests are made in trees, and shrubs, and ledges of buildings, bridges and other structures 5-25 feet above the ground. Robins are one of the earliest bird species to lay eggs in the Spring. Females generally lay 4 pale (sometimes 3-7), speckled “robin” blue eggs. Females incubate the eggs for 12-14 days. Hatchlings are fed worms, insects and berries by both parents, though the female feeds young more. Waste does not accumulate in the nest because it is collected in a solid white clump, flown away and disposed of by the parents. Both parents are very defensive of the nest and will brazenly dive bomb any potential predators.
Young leave the nest after about 14-16 days with all chicks leaving a brood within 2 days of each other. Juveniles’ wings grow quickly and they are capable of sustained flight about 2 weeks after fledgling, but will often follow their parents begging for food after leaving the nest. Males care for the fledgling young while females begin their second and sometimes third nesting attempts. Robins have a hard knock life and although an American Robin can produce three successful broods in a breeding season, on average, only 40% of nests successfully produce young and only 25% of those young survive to November. After that, only about half of the robins alive in any given year will survive to the next.
A smart, lucky robin can live to be 14 years old, however the average life span is about two years and the entire population turns over roughly every six years. Juvenile robins are prey for snakes, squirrels and birds such as jays, crows and ravens. Adults are preyed on by all kinds of hawks, cats, dogs, and larger snakes. Adults are most vulnerable when distracted by nesting and breeding activities and can be attacked on the ground or in flight. Large winter flocks provide more protection, as other robins can be vigilant and warn the entire flock of potential dangers and predators.
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