(Turdus migratorius)
This largest of North American thrushes is one of the most familiar songbirds in the eastern United States. Thrushes are members of the Turdidae family. They form a group of about 300 species, which are found worldwide, and share several traits, including the fused scutes or scales at the rear of the legs and the spotted plumage of the young. These are large-eyed, slender billed, stout-legged songbirds. They are among the finest of singers.
Robins vary in size from 9 to 11 inches. Typically, they are gray-backed with a brick-red breast. The male's head and tail are blackish; in the female they are grayer. Robins have white markings around the eye, under the chin and on the tips of the outer tail feathers. The bill is yellow. Young Robins have speckled breasts, but their gray back and rusty underparts identify them. Robins have an erect stance as they cross lawns in search of food. They feed on garden and field insects, worms, cultivated and wild fruits, and some seeds.
The voice is a series of 6-10 whistled phrases of 3 or 4 notes, rising and falling, often long and continued. Notes are tyeep and tut-tut-tut.
The nest, a mud-walled, grass-lined bowl, is usually built in the crotch of a tree or among the branches and sometimes on buildings. The female Robin lays from 3-5 blue eggs (size:1.2 x .8 inches). The eggs are incubated for 12 days. Both parents tend the young, which fly in 14-16 days. There can be 2 or 3 broods raised each season.
They are found in Alaska, Canada, throughout the United States to southern Mexico. They winter mainly south of Canada, some all the way to Guatemala. The map shows the Robin's winter range in blue, summer range in green and its year-round habitat in amber. The typical habitat of the American Robin is in towns, on lawns, in farmland, open forest and streamsides; in winter they frequent fruit-bearing trees. Most Robins are highly migratory, spending the winter in flocks in the southern United States, but a few winter as far north as southern Canada. They migrate during the day.
