The American Robin can be found throughout North America. Male robins have a dark gray to almost black back and tail, with a rusty red-coloured breast. The female is paler all over. The juvenile robins have a spotted breasts. Robins can live up to five years.
Only the male robin sings, but both sexes have calls and alarm notes. You typically hear the robin in the spring first thing in the morning and last thing before dark. When l hear them in the new year, it is a sure sign that warm weather is almost here.
Robins can be found feeding on open lawns and gardens with mature bushes and trees. They eat a variety of insects and berries, and they can eat up to 4 meters of earthworms in a day. Robins find earthworms by cocking their head to the side and looking for them, they have monocular vision, which means their eyes are on the sides of the head, and each eye can be used independently.
They don’t hear the earthworms, but instead use their eyes to see them. You will find robins in your yard after a rain after the sprinkler has been on, early morning in the dew, or even after the lawn has been mowed, as this brings out the worms and insects.
They typically built their nests in April through May and can have two or even three broods in a season. It typically takes about five to six days to build the nest, with most of the work done by the females. You can put out a small pan with mud along with nesting materials like string, pet hair, sticks, and grass and watch the robins collect these materials to make their nests.
Robins will lay 3 to 4 eggs and the female will incubate them for up to 14 days. Both parents guard the nest against danger. The babies are fully feathered in about 10 days and leave the nest by 16 days of age.