Juvenile Robin With 12 Missing Feathers Update 15th August

The juvenile Robins around the college grounds are now independent of the adult males and have finally started to make brief appearances. There are three sets of which I am aware. There are two siblings currently sharing a small shrubbery. They occasionally bicker over food and join forces when the adult female Blackbird shows up to steal their mealies. It seems rather odd to see them together. I imagine this situation might change once they get their adult plumage and start to get territorial. However, the fact that they are sharing a territory is not the most interesting fact. They are about two months old and yet one of them has no tail growth at all. All very intriguing. If this continues to be the case, I hope this particular Robin beats the odds and survives its first year. It will be interesting to see if adult tail feathers come though during the annual moult.

First, the one with the full tail

Full set of feathers

Oops! Where's your tail?

Showing off my tail!

You don't need a tail to pose for photos

  • It would appear that my little Robin friend has finally started to get his tail feathers. I took some photos of him today and it looks promising. The siblings have been engaged in territorial disputes over the past week. It's not clear who has the upper hand (or claw) at the moment. The sibling has burst into song as part of these exchanges. I thought that was interesting given the young age. They also teamed up briefly when a rat appeared on the ground below them. They both followed it from the branches above and most interestingly of all (to me at least), they both made the 'ground predator' warning call. Once the rat had departed they resumed hostilities and started chasing one another again. It's a pity the students will be returning soon. I should have liked to monitor the behaviour of these two as they grow older. They have yet to get their adult plumage and yet their behaviour is that of adults. Fascinating.

  • So, that opens the question of why it didn't have any, again, as the deformity theory seems to be out. Still, nice to see him coming back to normal.
  • Had Spadger with no tail in garden this morning .... actually can see just a tiny feather in this vid (best viewed full)