Turdus migratorius
The ubiquitous American Robin is a familiar bird to most North Americans, because it favors the pleasant surroundings of suburbia. Despite its intimate association with backyards and city parks, the robin is also widespread and common throughout the Rocky Mountains. Its tut-tut-tut alarm notes are frequently heard along trails as the bird retreats ahead of an intrusion. The familiarity that the American Robin offers could bring some reassurance to wary visitors, uncomfortable in the wilds of the Rockies. American Robins sometimes attempt to over- winter around hot springs and open water in the southern Rockies. The American Robin was named by English colonists after the Robin Redbreast of their native land. Both birds look and behave in a similar fashion, even though they're only distantly related. |
I.D.: Sexes similar: gray-brown back; darker head; white throat streaked with black; white undertail coverts; incomplete, white eye ring; yellow, black-tipped bill. Female: dark gray head; light red-orange breast. Male: deeper, brick red breast; black head. Juvenile: heavily spotted breast. Size: L 10 in. (25 cm). Range: common to very common breeder and migrant throughout the Rockies; common winter resident in the Rockies south of Montana. Habitat: townsites, forests, ranchlands, forest edges and roadsides up to the subalpine. Nesting: in a coniferous or deciduous tree or shrub; cup nest is well built of grass, moss and loose bark and cemented with mud; female incubates 4 baby blue eggs for 11-16 days. Feeding: forages on the ground and among vegetation for larval insects, adult insects, other invertebrates and berries. Voice: song is an evenly spaced warble: cheerily cheer-up cheerio; call is a rapid tut-tut-tut. Similar Species: Varied Thrush adult has a black breast band and 2 orange wing bars; juvenile has wing bars and a white belly. |
