European Robin - Eggs | Facts | Lifespan | Size | Diet

The European robin, scientific name Erithacus rubecula, identified merely because the robin or robin redbreast within the British Isles is a small insectivorous passerine bird that belongs to the chat subfamily of the Old World flycatcher family. In this article, I am going to talk about the European Robin song, vs American Robin, facts, eggs, lifespan, size, diet, nest, etc.

European Robin profile

About 12.5–14.0 cm (5.0–5.5 inches) in size, the female and male are related in coloration, with an orange breast and face lined with gray, brown upperparts and a whitish stomach.

It is discovered throughout Europe, east to Western Siberia, and south to North Africa; it’s sedentary in most of its range besides the far north.

Very frequent and acquainted species (as its name signifies it), the European Robin is de facto the king of the gardens. Rather solitary outdoors the breeding season, it is rather near us in winter, begging some bread crumbs on the kitchen’s door.

It will eat additionally bugs, worms, fruits, seeds, and can sing for us at daybreak as quickly because the spring begins. Its melodious track charms us even when it awakes us!

According to the areas, it’s sedentary or migratory. In spring, it builds its nest among the many vegetation, nicely hidden in ivy, a hedge, or the thick foliage of a shrub.

It is a territorial bird that can defend its territory towards different species, and even towards different robins. These fights may even typically change into violence.

The time period robin can also be utilized to some birds in different households with red or orange breasts. These embody the American robin (Turdus migratorius), a thrush, and the Australasian robins of the household Petroicidae, the relationships of that are unclear.

Range

The European Robin lives in Europe and the United Kingdom. Birds dwelling within the northern components of the habitat migrate southwards in winter.

We additionally discover it in North Africa, to East of Siberia, and Iran. It can also be current on the islands of the Atlantic corresponding to Madeira, Canary Islands, and the Azores. Attempts to introduce the species on different continents failed.

European Robin Behavior

The European Robin is commonly perched within the open when looking.

It watches rigorously to the bottom so as to detect prey. It hops right here and there whereas pecking amongst stones or grass.

Its typical angle makes it simple to acknowledge.

It flicks its tail up and down, with barely arched wings lowered and the top within the shoulders.

If threatened, it strikes wings and tail and scans rigorously the neighbourhoods, before flying away undercover.

The European Robin might change into very aggressive when it defends its territory.

These disputes can degenerate into violent combats, more or much less long, the place the birds give pecks and scratches. Both male’s faces going through inflating the chest so as to display the red-orange feathers.

The goal is to pin down the adversary to the bottom, which indicators its defeat. Some fights typically finish with the death of one of many combatants.

The European Robin is ready to ward off a big bird from its territory. It can even assault its personal reflection in a glass if it sees some red feathers. It inflates its plumage and lowers its wings, prepared for the struggle.

European Robin Description

The grownup European robin is 12.5–14.0 cm (5.0–5.5 in) long and weighs 16–22 g (9/16–13/16 oz), with a wingspan of 20–22 cm (8–9 in).

The female and male bear-related plumage; an orange breast and face (more strongly colored within the in any other case-related British subspecies E. r. melophilus), lined by a bluish-grey on the edges of the neck and chest.

The upperparts are brownish, or olive-tinged in British birds, and the stomach whitish, whereas the legs and toes are brown. The bill and eyes are black. Juveniles are noticed brown and white in coloration, with patches of orange progressively showing.

European Robin Distribution and habitat

Forest: Boreal, Temperate, Subtropical/Tropical Moist Montane; Shrubland: Boreal, Temperate, Mediterranean-type Shrubby Vegetation; Grassland: Temperate; Artificial/Terrestrial: Arable Land, Pastureland, Plantations, Rural Gardens, Urban Areas

The robin happens in Eurasia east to Western Siberia, south to Algeria, and on the Atlantic islands as far west because the Azores and Madeira. It is a vagrant in Iceland. In the southeast, it reaches the Caucasus range.

Irish and British robins are largely resident however a small minority, often feminine, migrate to southern Europe throughout winter, a couple of so far as Spain. Scandinavian and Russian robins migrate to Britain and western Europe to flee the harsher winters.

These migrants might be acknowledged by the greyer tone of the higher components of their bodies and duller orange breast.

The European robin prefers spruce woods in northern Europe, contrasting with its choice for parks and gardens in Ireland and Great Britain.

In southern Iberia, habitat segregation of resident and migrant robins happens, with resident robins remaining in the identical woodlands the place they bred.

Attempts to introduce the European robin into Australia and New Zealand within the latter part of the 19th century had been unsuccessful.

Birds had been launched around Melbourne, Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington, and Dunedin by numerous native acclimatization societies, with none changing into established.

There was the same end result in North America, as birds didn’t change into established after being launched in Long Island, New York in 1852, Oregon in 1889–1892, and the Saanich Peninsula in British Columbia in 1908–1910.

European Robin Ecology

The robin is diurnal, though it has been reported to be energetic looking bugs on moonlit nights or close to artificial light at night time.

Well identified to British and Irish gardeners, it’s comparatively unafraid of people and drawn to human actions involving the digging of soil, so as to look out for earthworms and different meals freshly turned up.

Indeed, the robin is taken into account to be a gardener’s good friend and for numerous folklore causes, the robin would by no means be harmed.

In continental Europe however, robins had been hunted and killed as with most different small birds, and are warier.

Robins additionally strategy giant wild animals, corresponding to wild boar and different animals that disturb the bottom, to search for any meals that could be dropped at the floor.

In autumn and winter, robins will complement their ordinary eating regimen of terrestrial invertebrates, corresponding to spiders, worms, and bugs, with berries and fruit. They may also eat seed mixtures positioned on bird-tables.

Male robins are famous for their extremely aggressive territorial conduct.

They will fiercely assault different males and opponents that stray into their territories and have been noticed attacking different small birds without obvious provocation.

There are cases of robins attacking their very own reflection.

Territorial disputes typically result in fatalities, accounting for as much as 10% of grownup robin deaths in some areas.

Because of excessive mortality within the first year of life, a robin has a mean life expectancy of 1.1 years; nonetheless, as soon as previous its first year it might count on to stay longer and one robin has been recorded as reaching 19 years of age.

A spell of very low temperatures in winter may additionally end in important mortality. This species is parasitized by the moorhen flea (Dasypsyllus gallinulae) and the acanthocephalan Apororhynchus silesiacus.

European Robin Breeding

Robins might select all kinds of websites for constructing a nest. In reality, something which might provide some shelter, like melancholy or gap could also be thought-about.

As nicely as the standard crevices, or sheltered banks, different objects embody items of equipment, barbecues, bicycle handlebars, bristles on upturned brooms, discarded kettles, watering cans, flower pots, and hats.

The nest consists of moss, leaves, and grass, with fantastic grass, hair, and feathers for the liner. Two or three clutches of 5 – 6 eggs are laid all through the breeding season, which commences in March in Britain and Ireland.

The eggs are cream, buff, or white speckled or blotched with a reddish-brown shade, typically more closely so on the bigger finish.

When juvenile birds fly from the nests they’re mottled brown in shade throughout.

After two to a few months out of the nest, the juvenile bird grows some orange feathers underneath its chin, and over the same interval, this patch progressively extends to finish the grownup look.

European Robin Vocalizations

The robin produces a fluting, warbling soundtrack throughout the breeding season.

Both the female and male sing throughout the winter, once they maintain separate territories, the track then sounding more plaintive than the summer season model.

The feminine robin strikes a brief distance from the summer season nesting territory to a close-by space that’s more appropriate for winter feeding.

The male robin retains the identical territory all through the year.

During the breeding season, male robins often provoke their morning track an hour before civil dawn and often terminate their every day singing around thirty minutes after sundown.

Nocturnal singing can even happen, particularly in city areas that are artificially lit throughout the night time. Under artificial light, nocturnal singing can be utilized by city robins to actively shunt daytime anthropogenic noise.

Quite a lot of calls can also be made at any time of year, together with a ticking notice indicating nervousness or delicate alarm.

Migration Pattern

The European robin is a seasonal migrant, although a central core of its range stays occupied year-round within the UK and western Europe.

Summer populations prolong as far north as Scandinavia and west by means of a lot of northern Europe, whereas winter migrants might go to the sting of northern Africa and the Middle East.

European Robin Conservation

These birds are widespread and never thought-about threatened or endangered, although some geographic populations are declining.

Pesticide controls are important to guard European robins, and habitat safety and preservation can also be important to offer these considerably territorial birds loads of area.

Illegal looking and poaching kill billions of songbirds crossing the Mediterranean Sea every year, together with these perky robins, and worldwide cooperation might be important to guard them.

European Robin Identification

These birds are acquainted and plentiful throughout Europe and have a particular body form and colors that make them simple to establish.

The head is spherical and the neck is thick, giving the bird a stocky look, and the quick, straight bill is evenly black. Males and females are just like an olive-brown head, nape, back, tail, and wings.

The orange face, throat, and higher breast could also be faintly bordered by a blue-gray wash, significantly across the face.

The underparts are buff or white with a faint orange wash alongside the flanks, and the legs are pale. The darkish eyes stand out within the face and sometimes give this bird a curious or harmless expression.

Juvenile European robins look just like adults however are closely noticed within the first few weeks of life, significantly on the breast. Those spots progressively fade because the birds mature into their full grownup coloration.

European robins are welcomed for their high-pitched, warbling, flute-like track that ripples and rises on the finish. Both genders might sing within the evenings and into the night time, significantly after the nesting season ends. The typical alarm name is a fast “tik-tik-tik-tik-tik.”

How to Find a European Robin

In the British Isles, these robins are widespread and customary to see in lots of parks and gardens.

Elsewhere inside their range, nonetheless, they’re more shy and elusive, and birders might have to go to much less common spots the place the birds will really feel comfier and less pressured by an excessive amount of activity.

Established feeding areas providing mealworms, seed, and suet can typically entice European robins, giving birders distinctive alternatives to get shut, rewarding views of those songbirds. Learn more about the Pelagic cormorant.

European Robin – Eggs | Facts | Lifespan | Size | Diet | Nest