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Birdaday Field Notes

Species profile

American Robin: identification, song, food, nesting and winter habits

The American Robin is the orange-breasted thrush that runs across lawns and stops to listen. The Cornell Lab of Ornithology calls it "the quintessential early bird." It's hailed as a sign of spring, yet many robins never leave for the winter. A shorter profile sits on common backyard birds.

Quick facts

Fact American Robin
Scientific name Turdus migratorius, a thrush (family Turdidae); described by Linnaeus in 1766 (Wikipedia)
Length 7.9–11.0 in (Cornell); 8–11 in (Audubon)
Weight 2.7–3.0 oz (Cornell); about 3 oz (Audubon)
Wingspan 12.2–15.8 in (Cornell); 12–16 in (Audubon)
Range Breeds across most of North America, from Alaska and Canada south to northern Florida and Mexico (Wikipedia)
Population About 370 million; increased slightly 1966–2019 (Cornell). Low Concern (Cornell); Least Concern (IUCN, via Audubon)
Oldest known 13 years 11 months (Cornell)
State bird of Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin (Wikipedia)

How to identify an American Robin

Cornell describes a fairly large songbird with a round body, long legs and a fairly long tail. It is gray-brown above with warm orange underparts and a dark head. In flight, look for a white patch on the lower belly and under the tail.

Adult American Robin perched on a yew branch: blackish head, broken white eye-ring, yellow bill, deep orange breast, gray-brown back and wings Juvenile American Robin in grass, head and chest close up: brown head with pale eye-ring, pale throat, chest heavily spotted dark over buff and orange, wisps of down on the crown
Adult (left) and juvenile (right), both photographed in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York. The adult shows the dark head, yellow bill and orange breast; the juvenile shows the spotted chest with a reddish tinge (Cornell, Audubon).
Photos: Rhododendrites / CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (adult, juvenile)
American Robin field marksA simplified side view of a generic robin standing upright on a lawn, facing left, with seven numbered field marks: dark head, yellow bill, white eye arcs, white throat with dark streaks, orange breast, white lower belly and undertail, and long legs. To the right, three color swatches compare an adult male, an adult female and a juvenile. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
  1. Dark head: blackest on adult males (Audubon).
  2. Yellow bill on adults (Cornell).
  3. White eye arcs: small white spots around the eye (Audubon).
  4. Throat: white with dark streaks (Cornell, Audubon).
  5. Breast: warm orange to brick red.
  6. White lower belly and undertail, most visible in flight (Cornell).
  7. Long legs. Length 7.9–11.0 in.
  8. Adult male swatch: dark head, richer color.
  9. Adult female swatch: paler head, less contrast with the back, more white below (Cornell).
  10. Juvenile swatch: spotted on back and chest, with a reddish chest tinge (Cornell, Audubon).
Drawn for Birdaday Field Notes as a generic robin shape. Field marks follow the Cornell Lab's All About Birds ID page and the Audubon field guide, cited below. Colors approximate. Not to scale.

Sex and region. Some winter adults can't be sexed by plumage. Western birds are often paler, with almost no white tail corners (Cornell).

Behavior clues. A robin runs a few steps, stops and tilts its head to find worms, and flicks its tail down after landing (Cornell). More on behavior as an ID key: bird identification basics.

Look-alikes

Species Where How it differs (Cornell)
Varied Thrush Pacific Coast forests; in winter in parks and backyards. Rare but regular in winter in the Upper Midwest and Northeast About robin-sized. Male has a sooty-black breast band, an orange line over the eye and two orange wingbars
Eastern Towhee (male) Brush, thickets and forest edges with leaf litter Smaller than a robin. Black head, breast and back; rufous only on the sides, with a white belly. Scratches in leaves with a backward two-footed hop
Spotted Towhee (male) Open shrubby areas, backyards, forest edges Smaller than a robin. Black upperparts spotted white, rufous flanks, white belly

Song and calls

Cornell describes the song as "a familiar sound of spring": a string of about 10 clear whistles built from a few repeated syllables, often written cheerily, cheer up, cheer up, cheerily, cheer up. Robins sing faster at dawn.

Food: worms by morning, fruit by afternoon

In spring and summer robins eat earthworms, insects and some snails. They also eat many fruits, including chokecherries, hawthorn, dogwood, sumac and juniper berries (Cornell). They take more earthworms in the morning and more fruit later in the day (Cornell). Audubon puts fruit at about 60% of the year-round diet. Lawn foraging leaves robins open to pesticide poisoning (Cornell).

At your feeder What the sources say
Fruit Robins are among the species "likely to feed upon fruit" (FeederWatch)
Grapes and raisins A favorite of many fruit-eating birds; use raisins without preservatives (FeederWatch)
Spoiled fruit Throw out moldy fruit, since some molds make toxins harmful to birds (FeederWatch)

Cornell says robins often come to feeders. For which feeder suits fruit, see what to feed backyard birds and bird feeder types.

Nesting

The female picks the site, usually a horizontal branch hidden under dense leaves in the lower half of a tree. Robins also nest on gutters, eaves and light fixtures (Cornell). She builds the cup from the inside out with grass and twigs, reinforces it with mud and lines it with fine dry grass. The finished nest is 6–8 in across and 3–6 in high (Cornell).

Sources differ on several figures, so both are shown:

Stage Cornell Lab Audubon field guide
Nest height Lower half of a tree, sometimes near the top Usually 5–25 ft; rarely on the ground or up to 70 ft
Clutch 3–5 eggs Usually 4, sometimes 3–7
Eggs Sky blue or blue-green, unmarked; 1.1–1.2 in long Pale blue
Incubation 12–14 days 12–14 days, by the female
Nestling period 13 days Young leave about 14–16 days after hatching
Broods per year 1–3 2, sometimes 3

Cornell adds that only about 40 percent of nests produce young, and about 25 percent of fledged young survive to November.

Nest shelf (NestWatch): NestWatch's structure for robins is a nest shelf. Mount it 5–25 ft up on a building or post, in a sheltered spot under the eaves or soffits or over a light fixture, at least 65 ft from the next one. Remove the old nest after the young fledge. Cornell advises putting it up well before breeding season. More sizes: birdhouse dimensions.

Where robins go in winter

Many robins spend the whole winter in their breeding range. They shift to fruit, form nomadic flocks of hundreds to thousands, and roost in trees, so they're less visible. Robins have been reported in January in every U.S. state except Hawaii (Cornell).

FeederWatch data show the trend growing: robins visited 68 percent of FeederWatch backyards in the northeastern U.S. in winter 2015–16, against 32 percent in 1989–90 (Pat Leonard, Cornell, 2017). Possible reasons: fruiting urban landscaping, warmer winters and less snow cover.

The spring "first robin." Audubon says many first robins of spring wintered only a few miles away, and that the winter range shifts yearly with food supply. Journey North's spring study tracks singing robins as well as first sightings, because a robin announces its arrival on its breeding territory by singing. It also tracks first earthworms, which move up toward the surface after the ground thaws. Its 2004 update says many ornithologists think migrating robins follow the 36- or 37-degree average-temperature line north.

A robin's year

American Robin year chartA January to December chart with six rows: present in the US all year; nomadic winter flocks feeding on fruit from fall through winter; the spring return north from February into May; spring song; earthworms and insects as the main food in spring and summer; and males at communal roosts in summer while females sleep on the nest. JFMAMJJASOND 1 2 3 4 5 6
  1. Present all year somewhere in the U.S. (Cornell).
  2. Nomadic winter flocks at fruit: fall and winter (Cornell).
  3. Return north: begins in February and March (Wikipedia); robins usually reach the Arctic in May (Journey North).
  4. Song: "a familiar sound of spring" (Cornell).
  5. Earthworms and insects make up much of the diet in spring and summer (Cornell).
  6. Summer roosts: females sleep at the nest while males gather at roosts (Cornell).
Drawn for Birdaday Field Notes from the seasons stated by the Cornell Lab (All About Birds), Audubon, Journey North and Wikipedia, cited below. The sources name seasons, not exact dates, so month edges are approximate and timing varies by latitude.

For your Bird-a-Day streak

Where robins winter near you, they're a reliable reserve bird for a hard day. See the Bird-a-Day challenge guide, the species planner, and profiles of the Northern Cardinal and Black-capped Chickadee.

Robin-friendly yard checklist

Sources