Written by Jay Rosenberg | 27 February 2011

American Robin

Turdis migratorius

ORDER: PASSERIFORMES   |   FAMILY: TURDIDAE

The American Robin has been sighted at Hayes Valley Farm for the first time since we started to pay attention! It's a great bird to learn about birds and bird language.

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• Identifying features: American Robins are fairly large songbirds with a large, round body, long legs, and fairly long tail. Robins are the largest North American thrushes, and their profile offers a good chance to learn the basic shape of most thrushes. They are gray-brown birds with warm orange underparts and dark heads. In flight, a white patch on the lower belly and under the tail can be conspicuous.
• Behavior: American Robins are industrious and authoritarian birds that bound across lawns or stand erect, beak tilted upward, to survey their environs. When alighting they habitually flick their tails downward several times. In fall and winter they form large flocks and gather in trees to roost or eat berries.
• More: "Night Chorus" - Robins sing in the glow of city lights.

For more, check out the Cornell Lab of Orinthology.

Photo by Jessica Merz, November 13, 2005