American Robin
Turdus migratorius
Summary 4
The American Robin (Turdus migratorius), also known as the robin, is a migratory songbird of the thrush family. Both males and females are medium-sized birds with gray bodies, brown-orange breasts, black heads and a white eye ring, thought the females' heads are slightly lighter than the males. American robins have a lovely and distinct song that can be hear here: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/sounds
Similar Species
The spotted towhee is similar in appearance, but has a white belly and white spots on their wings and back.
Where on Campus? 5
American Robins are very common on campus in the winter and are frequently seen in a large flock on the central lawns and in the sycamore trees in the center of campus. While there are some robins that nest here, the largest aggregation occurs during the winter.
Habitat. 5
American robins use a wide variety of habitats including lawns, parks, fields, pastures, pine forests, woodlands and shrublands.
Life History Traits 5
Nesting Female robins build a cup shaped nest out of twigs, grass and mud, usually in trees. Females lay 1-3 broods of 3-5 eggs/year. The offspring are altricial, but mature quickly and fledge about two weeks after hatching.
Feeding American Robins eat both invertebrates, including earthworms and fruit.
Distribution 5
American Robins are found from Canada to Northern Mexico.
Migration 5
Robins are, at most, short distance migrants. Our campus does seem to be a medium-sized winter roost site.
Sources and Credits
- (c) Ltshears, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b7/American_Robin_0026.jpg/460px-American_Robin_0026.jpg
- (c) 2005 California Academy of Sciences, some rights reserved (CC BY-NC-SA), http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?seq_num=161787&one=T
- (c) JerryFriedman, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Turdus_migratorious_male_snow.jpg/460px-Turdus_migratorious_male_snow.jpg
- Adapted by gillian360 from a work by (c) Wikipedia, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turdus_migratorius
- (c) gillian360, some rights reserved (CC BY-SA)
