Are robins completely indiscriminate about which birds they harass, if they are about the same size?
I realise they are territorial but hadn't appreciated by how much. One has taken up resident in our garden, often hiding on the fence, under the conifer, opposite the bird feeders. There is a pair of dunnocks in the garden which hardly get a chance to go near the feeders because the robin attacks whenever they land on them and it also attacks blue tits.
The sparrows from next door haven't been over in a while but I would be quite interested to see if he would attack them and whether he would get a group response.
Oh my! I have regular visits from robins and though I have seen them chase each other and very often the dunnocks I have never seen them chase another bird like blue tits or sparrows! I think like all creatures each has a personality of their own & your robin could just be more aggressive! If you love robins like I do a good read is "The life of the Robin by David Lack" I found my copy on amazon very cheap, I hope I have helped in some way
kind regards the little robin (gayle)
I have three robins regularly in my small garden and surprisingly enough they seem to tolerate each other at the moment!
Janet
my photos can be seen here flickr
Our robins don't seem bothered by anyone except each other....and the pied wagtail, who chases them off! Our pied wagtail has no fear at all and will even feed near our friendly neighbourhood carrion crow, who regards this much smaller bird with an air of complete astonishment!
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
That is very interesting Daniel. We observe what Clare has mentioned - robins behaving territorially towards each other but not other birds; in fact, 'the' robin we see is actually quite shy around other birds, especially the sparrows. I read somewhere that robins are programmed to attack anything red - a piece of red material on a stick will even work! - so I'm unsure why they would go for blue, unless there is a real lack of food and they perceive the blue tit as a genuine threat to their survival.
"Only two things are infinite - the universe and human stupidity. And I'm not too sure about the universe..." - Albert Einstein
Its the bull finches that push the others around. Mind you the green finch won't back down over sunflower hearts!!
Marmite: I wonder what sexes those three robins are. Although even female robins are territorial, I think a pair will sometimes tolerate each other for breeding reasons, even outside the breeding season. Perhaps there is a potentially breeding pair, and the third bird is a female which is also being courted by the male of the pair. I don't know whether robins will tolerate other related birds, such as last years' young, although I would doubt it.
I have seen some posturing but thats as far as goes