Overview

American Robin: Large, familiar North American thrush, gray-brown upperparts, rich red-brown breast, and white lower belly and undertail coverts. Head appears black with white splotches surrounding the eyes, and throat is white with black streaks. Swift, direct flight on rapidly beating wings.

Range and Habitat

American Robin: Breeds from Alaska east to Newfoundland and south to California, Texas, Arkansas, and South Carolina. Usually spends winters north to British Columbia and Newfoundland. Preferred habitats include towns, gardens, open woodlands, and agricultural lands.

Breeding and Nesting

American Robin: Three to seven pale blue eggs, sometimes flecked with brown, are laid in a well-made cup of mud reinforced with grass and twigs, lined with softer grass, and built in a tree or on a ledge. Incubation ranges from 12 to 14 days and is carried out by the female. Robins usually have two broods per season.

Foraging and Feeding

American Robin: Feeds on wild and cultivated fruits, berries, earthworms, and insects such as beetle grubs, caterpillars, and grasshoppers; appears to "listen” to the ground by cocking its head when stalking earthworms.

Readily Eats

Meal Worms, Raisins

Vocalization

American Robin: Song is a series of rich caroling notes, rising and falling in pitch: "cheer-up, cheerily, cheer-up, cheerily."

Similar Species

American Robin: Rufous-backed Robin has rufous back and black-tipped yellow bill. Varied Thrush has dark band across breast and orange wing bars.