365 Urban Species. Species #030: American Robin

[urbpan]

American robin in Olmsted Park, Boston. by cottonmanifesto

Urban species #030: American Robin Turdus migratorius

A great many of the species for which human land use has been a blessing rather than a curse, are not well loved. There are "pests" like mice and rats, and introduced plagues like house sparrows and starlings, but even charismatic native species are often disdained when they become too familiar. Squirrels and crows, raccoons and deer, woodchucks and bats, all are studied in the interest of controlling them--each is treated by worried suburbanites as a troubling problem. Rarely if ever is the American robin seen this way. In my time spent at the wildlife sanctuary, I often hear wildlife-related grievances, but never have I fielded a robin-related complaint: "Those damn red-breasted birds, you know the ones I mean, they're always on my lawn, taking away my valuable earthworms!"

What's to object to? Their song is sweet and pleasant, unlike the harsh screams of gulls and crows. They don't aggressively defend their territories, swooping at your head like mockingbirds, nor do they raid birdfeeders like jays, stuffing their crops full to cache away seeds. Robins are celebrated. Poem and song exalt them, though they are heirs to praise earned only through faint similarity, and an accident of misnaming. Any praise given to "robin" before North America was colonized belongs to the English robin, a smaller bird and distant cousin. The American robin was so named not for any close kinship but because the bird vaguely reminded the Europeans of their cherished bird, in breast and behavior.

Both birds are marked with reddish fronts, and both birds have learned that human activity turns up invertebrate prey. Robins of both sorts watch gardeners and farmers turning the soil, watching for exposed grubs and worms. American robins also like to hunt earthworms in the close-cropped lawns favored by American humans. They like to nest in the kind of small trees and tall shrubs that are found next to houses, and feed on the fruits of ornamental bushes and trees. A better name for them might be "lawn thrush" or even "house thrush." They are the most common and most widespread thrush in North America. Though robins are famous for appearing in the spring, they are present year-round in Boston. [edited to add:] Cities in milder climates may see the arrival of huge migrating flocks of robins as a sign of winter.

Comments

[by-steph.livejournal.com]

Au contraire. I knew a woman that didn't like them because they bounce. She wanted to know why they wouldn't walk "properly".

[zipotle.livejournal.com]

Shoot. I was all excited because "IT'S SPRING!!" until I read the last sentence.

There was some thrush in Germany that looked like Robins only without a red front; I called them German Robins. They came for Spring too.

[izzy23.livejournal.com]

As I've mentioned in my journal before, down here in Florida, robins mean winter, especially in large numbers. We have a handful year-round, but when you start to see flocks of hundreds of 'em (and they create quite a spectacle, with noise to match!), then you know it's about to get chilly.

We get flocks of cedar waxwings at about the same time, and sometimes the flocks will mingle. I've walked into my backyard in early February and had birds of both species swooping within a couple of feet of me going from one cherry laurel tree to another. The air would be alive with them for an hour or two at a time before they'd pick the trees clean and move on.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for this.

I feel like my entries are a little limited sometimes, because of my Boston-based perspective. It makes me want to travel more, so I can report on species from different cities in different climates. As it is, we have cancelled a trip to Sanibel, unfortunately, but we still are planning on a Caribbean trip in April--that should make for some interesting entries. I'm looking forward to my Summer trp with my father, too; We haven't quite figured out where we're going, but there could be urban species from Northern European cities, or from Latin American cities, depending on which of two choices we select.

I noticed huge winter flocks of robins when I was in San Francisco, as well.

[droserary.livejournal.com]

When I was young, my family raised a robin from hatchling. We released her after she matured, expecting to never see her again, but she stuck around all summer and fall. Every morning at 6:30am, she would be on the railing outside our house, singing for her morning treat of applesauce and bread. She seemed to thrive well, despite imprinting on humans. She hung around our yard, came when called, and didn't depend on us too much for food and socialization. Come winter, though, she disappeared--we feared the worst but hoped for the best. Often we wondered if the robins visiting our yard were her offspring. Intelligent little creatures...

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

Your family beat the odds in a couple ways there. 75% of robin chicks die in the wild, and while I don't have a figure for successful hand-rearing, anecdotally I'd say most die. Your family must have been especially skilled and caring.

[droserary.livejournal.com]

Interesting, I didn't know the survival rate before. Perhaps it was the relationship she formed with our labrador retriever, who would sit by the chick's box and often guard it when she felt there were hostile intentions. Maybe it was just luck.

Side note: If only 25% survive, the damage done to their population by the invasion of cowbirds must be devastating.

[urbpan.livejournal.com]

One source I consulted, New England Wildlife said that, while human use of the land increased habitat and food sources for American robins, it also increased predation: cats and crows are specified, but one imagines that nest parasitism by cowbirds must be part of that.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

I'd just like to note that I used the digital zoom on my camera for these photos.

[by-steph.livejournal.com]

That's amazing. My digital zoom makes it look like I put Vaseline on the lens.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

I love my camera a whole bunch!!

Camera

[(Anonymous)]

I agree--the pictures are great! What camera did you use?