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American Robin Leucistic © Clark Anderson. Photo taken on the Flying Circus Birders Walk on February 18, 2023.
The robins are back...lots of them.
If you wish to use this photo, please see attribution, and commenting recommendations at www.flickr.com/people/opusbloo.
I called it by its Latin name and it 'flew' into a rage. I can't blame it, can you?
American Robin ~ Turdus migratorius
The quintessential early bird, American Robins are common sights on lawns across North America, where you often see them tugging earthworms out of the ground. Robins are popular birds for their warm orange breast, cheery song, and early appearance at the end of winter. Though they’re familiar town and city birds, American Robins are at home in wilder areas, too, including mountain forests and Alaskan wilderness.
Measurements
Both Sexes
Length 7.9–11 in (20–28 cm)
Wingspan 12.2–15.7 in (31–40 cm)
Weight 2.7–3 oz (77–85 g)
The largest North American thrush, almost half again as big as a bluebird.
Facts
* An American Robin can produce three successful broods in one year. On average, though, only 40 percent of nests successfully produce young. Only 25 percent of those fledged young survive to November. From that point on, about half of the robins alive in any year will make it to the next. Despite the fact that a lucky robin can live to be 14 years old, the entire population turns over on average every six years.
* Although robins are considered harbingers of spring, many American Robins spend the whole winter in their breeding range. But because they spend more time roosting in trees and less time in your yard, you're much less likely to see them. The number of robins present in the northern parts of the range varies each year with the local conditions.
* Robins eat a lot of fruit in fall and winter. When they eat honeysuckle berries exclusively, they sometimes become intoxicated.
* Robin roosts can be huge, sometimes including a quarter-million birds during winter. In summer, females sleep at their nests and males gather at roosts. As young robins become independent, they join the males. Female adults go to the roosts only after they have finished nesting.
* Robins eat different types of food depending on the time of day: more earthworms in the morning and more fruit later in the day. Because the robin forages largely on lawns, it is vulnerable to pesticide poisoning and can be an important indicator of chemical pollution.
* The oldest recorded American Robin was 13 years and 11 months old.
Taken From allaboutbirds
Iona, Richmond.
The American robin breeds throughout most of North America, from Alaska and Canada south through the United States and into Mexico. Although some populations may stay close to the breeding grounds year-round, most from the northernmost parts of the range migrate south to spend the winter in the United States and Central America. These migrants occur as far south as Guatemala, and also winter in the Caribbean, including Cuba, the Bahamas and Bermuda.
All chicks in the brood leave the nest within two days of each other. Even after leaving the nest, the juveniles will follow their parents around and beg food from them. The wings of juvenile birds develop rapidly, and it only takes a couple of weeks for them to become proficient at flying. Juveniles become capable of sustained flight two weeks after fledging. Bird banders have found that only 25% of young robins survive the first year.
American Robin © Steve Frye. Photo taken on the Flying Circus Birders of Boulder Walk on April 23, 2022.
Ground foraging Robins are seen all the time, so I was delighted to get a few photos of this one perched on a pine branch.
Juvenile Sunbathing ~ American Robin ~ Turdus migratorius ~ Merle d'Amerique ~ My yard in Sparta, New Jersey
Juvenile Sunbathing ~ American Robin ~ Turdus migratorius ~ Merle d'Amerique ~ My yard in Sparta, New Jersey
I have updated this caption after an excellent review of ablinism/leucism on the yahoo group birdspix by Joseph Morlan. Most of the opinions below the photo were made before this update and reflect the complexity of the subject and lack of standardized terminology.
Some widely accepted definitions from the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology
are at:
Leucistic is when all or parts of the plumage are washed-out or pale
compared to normal. That's not the case with this Robin, where melanin is
completely missing in patches on the bird. Cf. their example of a partial
albino Spotted Towhee.
The confusion stems from a definition of albinism apparently first
suggested by Paul Buckley in which "albino" is all-or-nothing and all forms
of partial albinism are relegated to the term "leucistic."
Buckley, P. A. 1982. Avian genetics. Pp. 21-110 in M.
Petrak (ed.), Diseases of cage and aviary birds, 2nd
ed. Lea and Febiger, Philadelphia. Perhaps more
loosely and improperly used than any other term
relating to color in birds, albinism is, no more and
no less, the complete absence of all pigmentation,
resulting in white feathers (for the reasons just
discussed), pink eyes (no melanin obscures blood
circulation, cause of the pink color) and light bills
and legs/feet. Albinism is all or nothing, and a bird
can no more be a partial albino than a female mammal
partially pregnant. ...What is most frequently
termed albinism by the layman is properly called
leucism. It may be complete or partial, bilaterally
symmetrical or asymmetrical, and may affect melanins,
carotenoids and porphyrins differentially. Leucism is
simply the complete loss of a particular pigment, or
all pigments, in feathers but not in soft parts. It
may be as slight as a single white primary feather on
only one wing, or as pervasive as an all-white bird
with normal eyes, bill and legs (p. 65).
In the 1985 edition of "A Dictionary of Birds" edited by Campbell
and Lack. An entry by C.J.O. Harrison lists the following types of
abnormal plumage:
Abnormal Pigmentation, Atypical pigmentation, Schizochroism, Pigment
replacement, Gynandromorphs, Pigment deficiency, Pattern variations,
and Feather structure abnormalities.
The following appears in the discussion under "Atypical pigmentation:"
"Partial loss of pigment, affecting all the colours present and
reducing them in intensity, is rare. It is called 'dilution' by bird
breeders and 'leucism' in scientific writings, although the latter
term is also used at times for various forms of schizochroic loss (see
below) of single pigments which make the plumage appear paler...."
I tend to agree with Joseph Morlans comment: "So defined, the phenomenon of true leucism (dilution of all pigments)
is much rarer than schizochroism (involving a loss or dilution of only
some pigments), so "leucistic" should probably be used rarely, and not
merely as a jargon replacement for the more popular vernacular
"partial albino."
Photographed by Richard Stilwell in Iowa in July.
Canon EOS D60
1/125s f/5.6 at 400.0mm iso200
American Robin © Kevin Rutherford, Fern Lake Photography. Photo taken on the Flying Circus Birders of Boulder Walk on April 2, 2022.
American Robin
Turdus migratorius
Corn Creek, Nevada, USA
November 9 2010
Distribution: avibase.bsc-eoc.org/species.jsp?lang=EN&avibaseid=D77...
690V5106
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) on a nest in a carillon at Gettysburg College, Adams county, Pennsylvania. Seems like a poor locational choice. Maybe this Robin was deaf.
This morning we went to Sapsucker Woods, the Cornell Lab of Ornithology space near Ithaca NY. We had some very nice spring birds along the trail, including a pair of Rusty Blackbirds that unfortunately were too far off for photos.
It was very neat to see the new mural that's being painted in the lab building. It will depict the evolution of birds, as well as a representative species from every bird family on earth. This is being painted beautifully on an entire two-story wall space.
Hopefully when I'm next here it will be complete.
Taken in the spring of 1993. The boy in the picture is now a father. The robin in the picture was a father in 1994. But at the time the picture was taken they were both just testing out their wings.
This robin was one of a pair of orphaned fledgling which were in my care until they were adopted by a wild robin who had lost his own brood. I told the story here www.flickr.com/groups/the_world_through_my_eyes/discuss/7...
Explore'd - #327 on Oct. 15
American Robin © Clark Anderson. Photo taken on the Flying Circus Birders Walk on February 18, 2023.
This is robin's egg blue! These birds lay such pretty eggs. I found this one on the ground, apparently intact, along my driveway.
Eggs are about 28x20 mm.
Here you can see a robin, hear the robin's song, and hear a song about a robin...have fun!
Robin song: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UwnhwF9_x2Y
Rockin' Robin by Bobby Day
© Jim Gilbert 2010 all rights reserved
I wondered why this Robin was coming so close when it snagged a teneral from the pond before I saw it. Odd that a dragonfly would have emerged in the mid-late afternoon. Cropped shot from the macro rig.
Leonard J. Buck Garden, Far Hills, NJ