For the Birds: American Robin - the early bird gets the worm

American Robins enjoying bathPhoto by Christine Southwick

By Christine Southwick

American Robins start singing just before dawn, and are seen running across the lawn early in the morning, suddenly stopping and tilting their heads looking, not hearing, for those tasty worms. Even though we see robins all the time, chances are they aren’t the same ones. Most here in the winter go further north to breed, and the ones who breed here probably came from Oregon or California. Even its name, Turdus Migratorius, recognizes this songbird’s short-distance movements.

Juvenile American Robin
Photo by Christine Southwick

Robins are one of the first birds most people learn to recognize, and their size is often used as a reference, as in, “Larger than a chickadee, smaller than a robin.” When you really look at robins, you’ll see that they are a pretty bird, with black stripes on a white throat, and white feathers around the eyes. Females are paler than males, and juveniles have spots on their buff breasts.

Robins are social and feed in small flocks, with larger flocks at night, and when migrating. In addition to worms, they eat volumes of beetle grubs and caterpillars. Robins watch vigilantly for predators like cats or hawks, and you can often see a robin on guard duty while others are bathing.

Robins and, unfortunately, parasitic Brown-headed Cowbirds, benefit from the opened forests and forest edges created by human expansion. Cowbirds don’t make nests, but place their eggs in others nests to be raised by their new hosts. Robins have learned to reject those eggs.

Female gathering mud for nest
Photo by Christine Southwick

The female makes the nest, coating it with mud and grass before laying three to five blue eggs. Jays, crows, squirrels and snakes like their eggs. Both parents loudly and boldly protect their eggs and their fledglings until they can forage on their own. Even so, less than 25 % of each year’s broods survive to see their first November. Cats, hawks, window strikes and pesticides that poison the worms and berries Robins eat, take their tolls. The average lifespan of American Robins is two years, but some live to 10-13 years.

The early bird gets the worm - American Robin with worm
Photo by Christine Southwick

When you hear cheery morning singing, look for the early bird running across your lawn, stopping to grab a worm. Robins also love berries, and fruits, so plant a Serviceberry tree, and add a shallow bird bath, and you will be rewarded with American Robins.

Christine Southwick is on the Board of the Puget Sound Bird Observatory and is their Winter Urban Color-banding Project Manager. She is a National Wildlife Federation Certified Wildlife Habitat Steward, having completed their forty hour class. We're happy that she is sharing her expertise with us about the birds in our backyards.

For previous For the Birds columns, click on the link under the Features section on the main webpage.