Having peered out of the office window and spotted my first robin for a long time, it prompted me to learn a bit more about these well loved birds.
The robin is perhaps the best known of all British birds and apparently is Britain’s unofficial national bird. Juvenile robins have a brown rather than a red breast until their first moult when they grow their red feathers. These little birds can be very territorial and will fiercely defend their patch. In winter they can puff up their plumage to insulate their body against cold winds.
Robins are strongly associated with Christmas which might arise from the fact that postmen in Victorian Britain wore red uniforms and were nicknamed ‘Robins’. There are also sports teams who are nicknamed ‘The Robins’ including Bristol City Football Club who have a red and white home kit.
Although here in the UK we may think of robins as cute little brown birds with red breasts, in North America a robin is a much larger thrush sized bird. Although it still has a red breast it looks very much different from our European robin and is called the American robin funnily enough. In fact one of my friends from Canada was very surprised to learn what I understand a robin to look like compared to what she did!
American Robin- Neil Smith
European robin- Neil Smith