The Red-Breasted Robin is the First Sign of Spring
The American Robin is a small, beautiful songbird from the thrush family and is often considered as the first sign of Spring. They have colorful reddish-orange feathers on their breast. One common misconception is that the American Robin and the European Robin are closely related. However, in fact they are not even part of the same family. Although the American Robin did apparently get its name from the European Robin. The European Robin is a member of the flycatcher family.
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The European Robins, while sometimes affectionately referred to as Robin Red-Breasts, seem to have more of an orange coloring on their breast. They also have gray and brown feathers on the rest of their bodies. The Australian, or Scarlet Robin, seems to be closer related to the American Robin in color. However it is a member of the Petroicidae family.
As songbirds, the American male robins can often be heard singing a lovely tune late into the evening. It has been said when night starts to fall, the last birds you will hear singing will be robins. They are usually the first to begin singing in the morning as well, when they get up to start their very active day. In terms of food, their diet consists of mainly of beetles, fruits and berries.
The European Robin is the national bird of Great Britain. They are typically not frightened by human contact and will even get quite close to people at times. They make a kind of warbling sound during mating seasons and sometimes been confused with Nightingales when they’ve been heard singing at night. Their main diet is insect-based.
The Australian or Scarlet Robins have more of a stocky build and round head than many other robins. They appear to show a very strong partner bond in that pairs of robins will stay together for the long-haul. They also tend to stay grouped in smaller family units and even have been seen to support and feed as a family group. They too concentrate their diet on insects, but do supplement with seeds on occasion.
There are a number of other birds that have been given the title “robin” and these are just a few of the main ones we choose to include here. One interesting fact about robins is that in the film “Mary Poppins”, it was actually an American Robin that was shown feathering its nest in London, not the European Robin. This was apparently an error as the American Robin has been very rarely seen in the United Kingdom.
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Comments
Robins do not always migrate south. They are in MD all year long. No true that it is the first sign of Spring.