American Robin Songbird

The first time I saw an American Robin in Florida was in the winter of 2008. When I saw them I fill my squirrel proof bird feeder with lots of seeds and I waited for them to approach the feeder and try their scrumptious meal.  I realized then, they spent most of their time on the ground and they never went to my squirrel proof bird feeder.  I watched the birds for a few minutes and I saw them pecking between the leaves that were on the ground. That moment I realized they don’t eat bird seeds; they like to eat worms, small bugs and berries.

Every winter they migrate to Florida and after seeing them for the first time I was excited to see them arriving in my yard again. Because of the really cold weather this winter season (2009-2010), it took awhile to see the American Robin showing up in my backyard.

 At the end of December of 2009 and beginning of January 2010 I saw just one American robin arriving in my backyard. This American Robin stayed alone for several weeks until the middle of January when the rest of the American Robins arrived. I was wondering where the rest of the American Robins were. I thought I wouldn’t see any other American Robin this season until one day when I mentioned to my husband that I thought how odd it was that just one American Robin was in the backyard. I was expecting to see more than one by that time of the year. When I finished saying that statement, my husband asked me to take a look through the window. When I looked through the window I saw so many American Robins in my backyard. I was so happy for that. I took lots of pictures and recorded videos of them. I am hoping to see them back in my yard again next year.

I will give a brief description of how the American Robin lives and what they look like for those of you who have not seen them before.

They are common winter visitors to Florida and the Gulf States to Mexico to the Pacific Coast. After the winter is gone they migrate up north so they can breed in the summer.

Their feathers are dark gray above, their outer tail feathers ended with white, and their breast are reddish-orange, varying from a rich red maroon to peachy orange.

The American Robin can walk, run and hop. They run when there aren’t any obstacles on the ground that prevents them from reach their food, or when they are playing and running from each other. They hop when move from branch to branch, when the grass is too high to see through or sometimes they hop just because they feel like it.