American Robin

Quick Facts About American Robins

Scientific Name	Turdus migratorius
Common Name(s)	American Robin
Animal Type	Bird, songbird
Diet	Earthworms, insects, berries
Found	Year-round in North Carolina. Very common in urban parks and suburban areas. Visits bird feeders. Often seen out in the open, hopping across lawns and grassy areas.
Description	Easily identifiable. Nine to eleven inches (23-28 cm). Males: Black head, back, wing, and tail. Broken white eye ring. White streaks under chin. Deep rust-red breast feathers. Yellow beak and yellow-brown legs. White patch under tail. Females: Similar to males but color is less saturated overall. Dark gray head, back, wing, and tail. Head often shows more white streaks. Pale-red breast feathers.

American Robin Images

Fun Facts About American Robins

Watching, Not Listening

Observers of American Robins may notice that these birds cock their heads to the side when feeding on lawns and in grassy areas.

Some believe the birds are listening for the sounds of earthworms chewing their way through the soil.

But this is not the case. While American Robins have excellent hearing, they cock their heads so that they can use their eyes (Tekiela 2004).

Earthworms or insect larvae wriggling close to the ground surface often give their presence away by breaking the soil surface with portions of their bodies.

American Robins tilt their heads to get a clear view of the soil between blades of grass. They are looking for patches of color and motion that indicate accessible prey.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

Some species of birds are notorious brood parasites.

A brood parasite is a bird species who lays their eggs in the nest of a different bird species. The nest owners end up incubating, protecting, and feeding offspring that are not their own, which drains considerable energy and resources from the host parents. The parasitic species benefits from the efforts of the host birds, while the host birds suffer.

Brood parasites can be either “obligate” or “facultative”.

An obligate brood parasite must lay their eggs in the nests of other birds because the parasitic species provides no parental care at all once the eggs are laid. The female abandons the eggs completely and must rely on the host bird accepting the parasite’s eggs as her own.

Brown-Headed Cowbird (Molothrus ater) is an example of an obligate brood parasite.

A facultative brood parasite does not need to lay their eggs in the nests of other bird—it is perfectly capable of caring for their own eggs and babies—but opts to do so in certain circumstances. Facultative brood parasitism is rare in the bird world, but it does happen.

Enter the American Robin, a little-known facultative brood parasite.

In a study published in the Wilson Journal of Ornithology, a scientist observed two American Robin eggs in the nest of a Gray Catbird (Dumetella carolinensis). The catbird parents successfully incubated the robin eggs and raised the American Robin hatchlings to fledging age (Redmond 2020, https://doi.org/10.1676/1559-4491-132.1.202).

The funny thing about this finding is that American Robins aggressively reject the eggs of brood parasites. In fact, “American robins (Turdus migratorius) are one of only 10% of the over 200 potential
cowbird host species to robustly reject parasitic eggs” and rejected model eggs dyed to resemble the color of Brown-Headed Cowbird eggs in 100% of trials (Croston and Hauber 2014, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-013-1649-8).

While brood parasitism by American Robins is quite rare, it clearly happens. When it does, it’s a great reminder that even animals can have something of a double standard.

You’re In My Space

Male American Robins are strongly territorial, but their territorial behavior looks quite different from that of other birds. The timing, extent, and aggressiveness of their response varies between individual males and even for the same male at different times of day. Resident males often lose territorial battles to intruders also, which is slightly unusual in the bird world.

That said, when a male American Robin decides to defend his space, he puts on quite a show. Watch a group of American Robins on your lawn or in a grassy park sometime, especially in the spring, and you may see a male robin defend it territory.

Males show their intolerance to other males in their territories in several ways:

Wing Droop: Bird lowers its wing tips below tail level and puffs out its breast feathers.
Tail Lift: Bird lowers its head and tilts its tail up forty-five degrees.
Attack Run: Bird tilts itself down horizontally and runs directly towards a challenger.
Pushing: One bird dashes a short distance towards another bird, who moves away a short distance.
- Less aggressive than a full-on attack run, but effectively shifts encroachers significant distances when repeated (Stokes 1979).

Singing, Sunbathing, and Raising the Babies

Only male American Robins sing.
Only female American Robins sit on the nests to incubate their eggs.
- Male American Robins do guard the nests for a few minutes every hour while the females fly off to feed themselves.
- Both sexes feed the hatchlings.
Both sexes of American Robins seem to love sunbathing.
- They will lay out in the sun, stretch their wings out, and ruffle their feathers up.
- Scientists believe this behavior may reduce mites and other parasites that live in the birds’ feathers.
- It’s also possible that it simply feels good. Only the birds know for sure.

American Robin

Quick Facts About American Robins

American Robin Images