Robins

Hi!
I have seen a lot of robins lately. So, I decided to write about them.

Food:
Beetle grubs, caterpillars, cultivated and wild berries and fruit, soft-body invertebrates, and robins adore fermented Pyracantha berries. They search for earthworms, not by hearing, but by sight.

Habitat:
Robins live in most of North America. They live in almost all of U.S.A. (They don't live in Hawaii) year round, almost all of Canada (they don't live in the northeastern part of Canada) in summer (including Alaska). They live in a very small part of Mexico for winter.

Predators:
Hawks, large snakes, and cats prey on robins. Flocks of robins tend to stay silent and watch out for predators for the other robins. Some birds, such as common grackles, American crows, blue jays, common ravens prey on young, juvenile, or eggs, along with snakes, and squirrels.

Description:
Robins are gray, with an orange, or red chest. They have yellow beaks, with a black tip. Robins have white circles around their eyes. Males and females look alike, except for the darker-gray head of the male robin, and the darker chest.

Young:
After mating, the female robin builds, and takes care of the eggs and young alone. Their nests are either in the fork of two branches, or in dense brush, 5 to 15 feet off the ground. The nest is made of twigs, paper, grass, feathers on the outside, and is made of mud, grass, feathers, hair, and other soft material in the inside. The female lays 3 to 5 light blue eggs, that hatch after 14 days. Newly-hatched chicks are born with closed eyes, and are featherless. Chicks have a yellow- speckled chest, and look the same when they are juvenile, except for the fact that they are bigger, and look for like their parents.The chicks leave the nest after 2 weeks.

Did you know?
3 states chose the robin to be their state bird:
Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Michigan.

Different kinds of robin:
Scrub-robin, American robin, European robin, White- breasted robin, Tomtit, Red-capped robin, Tit (bird), and Geneva robins.

*Footnotes*
http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/american_robin/id

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Robin#Distribution_and_habitat

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._state_birds

Until next time,
Chiara