The American Robin

By Roland H. Wauer

The American Robin is North America's most widespread songbird, with a range extending from Alaska, Canada, and Newfoundland to the highlands of Mexico and Guatemala. Its ruddy red breast and cheerful song have also made it one of our most beloved birds-as American as apple pie, as familiar a harbinger of

• Language: English
• Publisher: The Media Reviews
• Release date: Oct 30, 2023
• ISBN: 9781961395305

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Copyright © 2023 Roland H. Wauer.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author and publisher, except by reviewers, who may quote brief passages in a review.

ISBN: 978-1-961395-30-5 (E-book Edition)

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Printed in the United States of America

NUMBER THIRTY-NINE

THE CORRIE HERRING HOOKS SERIES

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Robin singing in pear tree.

Photo by Maslowski Wildlife Productions.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Claim to Fame

Robin Facts and Fiction

Facts

Fiction

Description

Appearance

Flight

Voice

Physiology

Senses

Distribution

Summer

Winter

Other North American Thrushes

American Robin Behavior

Feeding

Bathing

Preening

Anting

Flocking and Roosting

Life History

Migration

Territory and Territorial Defense

Courtship

Nest Building

Egg-Laying

Incubation

Care of the Young

Associates

Enemies and Threats

Predators

Competitors

Brood Parasites

Overindulgence

Weather

Diseases

Human-caused Deaths

Inviting Robins to Your Home

In Closing

Bibliography

Acknowledgments

Several friends and colleagues have provided special assistance to me during the course of this project. Each of the following is gratefully acknowledged: Michael Husak and Terry Maxwell (Angelo State University) and Brent Ortego (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department) for help with obtaining references; Greg Lasley for up- to-date Texas records of Turdus thrushes; Andy O’Neil and Paul Palmer for information on recent breeding records in Texas; and John Sauer and Jane Fallon of the Patuxent Wildlife Research Center in Laurel, Maryland, for the maps. Several photographers kindly provided photographs used in this book, including Dave and Steve Maslowski, Jeffrey Rich, John and Gloria Tveten, and Tom J. Ulrich. The staff of the University of Texas Press has been extremely helpful throughout the publishing process. And last but not least, I thank my wife, Betty, for her constant support and interest.

Introduction

Each time I study a new species I am amazed to find how much I see after I have become thoroughly acquainted with it.

NIKO TINBERGEN,

animal behaviorist and author of Curious Naturalist

Robin is one of the most native and democratic of our birds; he is one of the family, and seems much nearer to us than those rare, exotic visitants . . . with their distant, high-bred ways. Hardy, noisy, frolicsome, neighborly and domestic in his habits, strong of wings, and bold in spirit, he is the pioneer of the thrush family, and well worthy of the finer artists whose coming he heralds and in a measure prepares us for.

JOHN BURROUGHS,

from Wake-Robin, 1913

(Wake-Robin refers to the white trillium that blooms in the eastern woods where Burroughs lived.)

Who in all of North America has not experienced our American Robin up close and personal? Who has not watched Robin Redbreast in pursuit of earthworms on a lawn or open field? And who has not enjoyed the robin’s cheerful caroling?

No other songbird is so well-known as our American Robin. It is as American as apple pie, baseball, and the Stars and Stripes. The states of Connecticut, Michigan, and Wisconsin have declared it their state bird, and in Canada, a pair of American Robins, or le merle d’amerique in French, grace two-dollar bills.

Herbert Brandt, ornithologist and author of books about birds from Alaska to Texas, writes in Arizona and Its Bird Life, In my book of experience the bird that has displayed to me the most understandable avian behavior and appealing personality is the friendly, reliable Robin. Its daily fidelity, love of offspring, industry, flocking and migration behavior, familiarity, distribution, and many other attributes cause this bird, in my studies, to stand apart.

Although the Bald Eagle is America’s national bird, and there are a handful of other species, such as the roadrunner, hummingbird, and chickadee, that may be more appealing, none is as widespread and as well-known as the American Robin. It resides on our lawns and in our gardens, fields, and pastures, as well as in the wild lands in which we recreate. It is known throughout North America, from the Arctic tundra to the humid Gulf lowlands, and from the Nor’east to the Baja Peninsula. It often is the only bird that as children we learn to call by name.

For me, after many years of enjoying nature, including untold experiences with wild birds, three robin incidents are especially meaningful.

I remember one early spring day along the Naval Oaks Trail in Florida’s Gulf Islands National Seashore. The huge live oaks were filled with birdsongs, each species expressing their zeal for the coming season. Then ahead of me, somewhere to the left of the trail, I began to detect a strange, melodious hum. It took several minutes to reach a point on the trail where I was able to pinpoint the general location of the sound. By this time I began to see dozens of American Robins all about me, perched among the oaks, moving about from one spot to another, and arriving singly or in flocks from elsewhere.

I began to zero in on the principal source of the hum, soon recognizing that much of the harmony was supplied by mellow chips and partial songs of robins. I left the trail and slowly worked my way through the woods to where I could see a shallow pond just ahead. By now the sound was considerably louder, and I could also distinguish hundreds of minute splashings. A few feet closer and I was able to peer through the undergrowth to across the pond. It wasn’t until then that I understood the true cause of the hum. Hundreds of American Robins lined the shore or were perched on adjacent shrubs and trees. Those along the shore were bathing, dipping into the water and flipping it over their backs. They were spaced out shoulder to shoulder for 100 feet or more. Each bird seemed in pure delight! After a few dips and splashes, the bather would fly up to a low branch to shake and preen and chirp a few apparent notes of contentment. Its place on the shore was immediately taken by a waiting bird.

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Robin drinking.

Photo by Jeffrey Rich.

In watching the estimated thousand or more bathers that morning, I was struck by their good manners and patience in waiting their turn to bathe. Although I noticed some posturing during a bath, or an occasional bill jab or gaping when the next bather got too close, the entire flock of robins reminded me of lines of shoppers streaming to the checkout and waiting their turn. It