Birds Posters
Robins
Swynnerton's robins are known from a few mountain ranges in eastern Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Tanzania.
They are found primarily in tropical montane forests, from 850 to 1800 m elevation, more common at 900 to 1200 m.
The population in the East Usambaras Mountains occurs in lowland evergreen forest, from 130 to 550 m elevation.
Swynnerton's robins are 12 to 13 cm in length, with blue-grey plumage dorsally and a bright orange breast.
The orange plumage of the breast becomes lighter on the belly, becoming a buffy yellow and then white at the vent.
The head and chin are grey and there is a small white bib bordered by a black line that separates it from the orange of the breast.
They have long legs and feet with grayish flesh-colored skin. The feathers on the wing have an olive-green cast to them.
American robins are native to the Nearctic region.
They occur year-round in southern Canada from Newfoundland to British Columbia, throughout most of the United States and along the Sierra Madre into southern Mexico.
American robins are birds that measure 25 cm in length and average 77 g in weight.
Males are only slightly larger than females.
They are brown on their backs, reddish on the breast, and white on their lower belly and under their tail feathers.
Their throats are white, streaked with black.
They have white crescents above and below their eyes. Females are slightly paler in color than males.
American Robins feed on a mixture of both wild and cultivated fruits, berries, earthworms, and insects such as beetle grubs, caterpillars, and grasshoppers.
Robins are flexible and will turn to whichever food is most readily accessible, although the diet generally consists of approximately 40% invertebrates, 60% fruits and berries.
During breeding season, male American Robins grow black feathers on their heads to attract females.
Once the mating season is over, these feathers are lost.
There is a Crayola crayon named Robins Egg Blue.
These birds have been observed wading belly deep in water to catch small fish.
The Rufous-backed Robinwas first described in 1840 by Lafresnaye, a French ornithologist and collector.
There are more than three hundred species of thrushes that live worldwide. North America has 15 species.
The White-throated Robin was first described in 1843 by Felix Edouard Guerin-Meneville, a French entomologist.
The first documented record for the United States was in February, 1990. The next time this species occurred here was in February, 1998.
With their springtime songs, Clay-colored Robins are said to call in the rains at the start of Costa Rica's rainy season which begins in May.
In Panama, this species elects to breed in the dry season, despite limited food availability, presumably because the danger from predation is less.
It will follow army ants to feed on small prey disturbed by the ant columns.