January 2017 - the American Robin
 Photo courtesy of Frank R. Perez
American Robins are widespread and familiar throughout North America. The American Robin is the state bird of Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin. Their song welcomes spring and is often the earliest song heard at dawn beginning just before first light. In fall and winter, they travel in large flocks looking for food.
In Amador and Calaveras counties, robins are here year round. We see them on our lawns pulling out earthworms for breakfast; find them in parks, golf courses, fields, pastures as well as in the forests. American Robins are fairly large with a round chunky body, long legs and a fairly long tail. They have an erect profile, standing tall with their beak pointed upwards. These are the largest of the North American thrushes. They are mostly grey and brown with orange underneath and dark heads. A white patch is found on the lower belly and under the tail. Females have paler heads and slightly less orange breasts. Robins forage on the ground and locate earthworms by sight, not as once thought by sound. They cock their heads to the side for a better view. They eat mostly insects, berries, and earthworms. Sometimes, they also eat snails, spiders and other invertebrates. In fall and winter, they may eat honeysuckle or Pyracantha berries and become intoxicated. No FUI (flying under the influence)! Males arrive at nesting sites before females and defend their territories by singing. Females, however, do most of the nest building with just a little help from the males. They nest in trees, ledges of houses, barns or bridges. The young robins are safe in a solid nest of grasses, twigs and debris mixed with mud and lined with grasses and plant fibers. Both parents feed the young and will aggressively defend the nest. Young robins fledge in 14-16 days after hatching and the male tends to them while the female starts another nesting attempt. Robins generally have 2 broods per season with 3-7 pale blue eggs. About 40% of nests produce young; only 25% of those fledged will make it to November. And only half of the robins alive will make it to the following year. Even with those grim sounding statistics, there are estimated to be approximately 320 million American Robins in North America. Robins roost (gather and rest or sleep) in large groups; sometimes including a quarter of a million birds during winter. Summertime, females sleep at the nest, and will only join the larger roosts after nesting is completed. Since robins are so ubiquitous, they can serve as an early warning of environmental problems such as overuse of pesticides. The oldest recorded American Robin was 13 years and 11 months old. 
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