Comments on: Changing of the birds … https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/03/26/changing-of-the-birds/ Wed, 06 Dec 2017 04:26:14 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.6 By: Anne Gilbert https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/03/26/changing-of-the-birds/#comment-533268 Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:00:45 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/03/26/changing-of-the-birds/#comment-533268 For the person that mentioned European robins, yes, they’re a different bird. Robins over here are officially(yes, officially!) called Aeremerican robins, and classified as Turdus migratorius. Though both European and American robins are part of the thrush family, more or less, about all they have in common is red breasts. American robins are more closely related to European blackbirds, which essentially look like melanistic American robins.

And all (American) robins do migrate. However, they often don’t migrate very far,at least in climates where it doesn’t get terribly cold in the wintertime, and there are berries or old fruit on trees,or the ground usually stays soft enough to peck around for worms and grubs. Where I live, the robins I see in the winter(and yes, I see them all year round here), come from only a little farther north, plus some of them come from the dry, eastern 2/3 of my state. The “summer” robins just fly a little farther south. And sometimes they come back as early as late February and try to “set up shop”. They’re here now, singing their heads off, setting up territories and trying to attract mates. It’s spring, all right!
Anne G

]]> By: Gray Gaffer https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/03/26/changing-of-the-birds/#comment-533267 Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:54:29 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/03/26/changing-of-the-birds/#comment-533267 As a Brit myself, I always had a problem with the big bird with the faded orange breast over here being called a Robin. It’s not. That one at http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/r/robin/index.asp is. I had a pair in my garden back then, so did my Grandparents. Breast is definitely Red.

]]> By: Richard Simons https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/03/26/changing-of-the-birds/#comment-533266 Thu, 26 Mar 2009 23:47:13 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/03/26/changing-of-the-birds/#comment-533266 I wonder how many of the robins that are seen in the winter are actually migrants from farther north? Twice a year, at our house in southern Manitoba, for a few days we have a stream of robins passing through, perhaps one or two birds a minute. They fly from one tree or bush to another a couple of houses along the road, briefly hop around the lawn, then they’re off again.

Where I’m working, in central Manitoba, I saw the first spring migrant today, a bald eagle. I’m told that the crows are back, too.

(BTW, they’re just big, red-breasted thrushes, not real robins.)

]]> By: The Ridger https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/03/26/changing-of-the-birds/#comment-533265 Thu, 26 Mar 2009 18:59:34 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/03/26/changing-of-the-birds/#comment-533265 Plenty of colonists name something similar to what they miss after the names of the things they miss.

]]> By: Tony Sidaway https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/03/26/changing-of-the-birds/#comment-533264 Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:23:33 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/03/26/changing-of-the-birds/#comment-533264 It’s Dick Van Dyke’s pet red thrush.

Why do Americans call red thrushes “robins”? Nostalgia is my guess.

]]> By: Greg Laden https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/03/26/changing-of-the-birds/#comment-533263 Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:11:20 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/03/26/changing-of-the-birds/#comment-533263 That’s a totally fake robin.

Hey, you should see the robin in the old Mary Poppins movie. Now, THAT’s a real robin, even though it is supposed to be set in London.

]]> By: Bob O'H https://gregladen.com/blog/2009/03/26/changing-of-the-birds/#comment-533262 Thu, 26 Mar 2009 16:09:02 +0000 http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2009/03/26/changing-of-the-birds/#comment-533262 That’s odd. In the UK Robin Red Breast (Erithacus rubecula, different species) appears is known as a winter bird, and gets associated with Christmas.

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