As winter wears on, the passing of Groundhog Day has many people thinking about the arrival of spring. Even skeptics can’t be faulted for dreading Punxsutawney Phil’s shadow, but I’ve been watching for a different omen. I’ve been awaiting the arrival of the American robin, a traditional harbinger of spring in the United States.
But there’s a hitch. Recently, while gazing out my apartment window, I saw not just one robin but a flock of thirty or more visiting my neighborhood trees. Weirder still, these robins weren’t eating their standard springtime worms, they were noshing on late fruiting berries. Spring has certainly not arrived, so why have the robins?
To learn more about this behavior, I spoke to Elizabeth Howard, Founder and Director of Journey North. Journey North’s American Robin project is tracking robin movements across North America. She pointed out that robins, though they are considered migratory, don’t follow the typical north to south and back migration pattern we tend to associate with other migratory birds.
Robins in Winter
“Robins can withstand very cold temperatures,” Howard explains. “In most places you can see robins in the wintertime. You’ll see them wandering around and yet it’s not considered migration because basically they’re moving in a nomadic way, following the food.”
Many robins, especially those that remain in the northern states and southern Canada, change their diets in winter. Since worms and insects aren’t available, they search out trees that still have fruit.
“In the wintertime robins are actually social,” Howard says. “They form flocks — all those eyes and ears are good for watching out for predators. And one of the beauties of flocking is that if one of them finds some food, it can call the rest.”
Even in freezing temperatures, robins can stay warm enough to make staying through the winter worthwhile. Those who remain near their mating grounds will get first dibs on the best nesting territories when spring arrives.
“Sometimes you see them and it’s so cold you think, ‘My goodness they’ll all die.’” Howard says. “It’s amazing, the way they survive winter is they fluff their feathers and get really big. Their internal temperature is 104° F and yet they can be in areas below freezing. That’s how well their feathers insulate them; there can even be a 100-degree difference just through those layers of feathers.”
If you want to observe robins in winter, try putting out water for them. They can survive on their own by eating snow, but birds always welcome a source of unfrozen water for drinking and bathing.
The First Robin of Spring
Robins haven’t been entirely dethroned from their poetic status as spring symbol. Though notions of spring vary by region and temperature. Some robin behaviors take place in step with the warming temperatures that people associate with the arrival of spring.
For instance, as temperatures warm in springtime, the bulk of the robin population follows a more reliable northward spring migration pattern.
“In the spring they migrate with a 36-degree isotherm,” Howard explains. “The ground thaws and that’s when traditional earthworms and some other insect larvae are available. That’s when you see big movements.”
More than anything, the robin’s song remains a reliable indicator that the first wave of spring migration has reached you. This song is one of the first signs that robins are switching from winter behavior to courtship and nesting behavior associated with spring.
“We see a clear south to north progression in reports of territorial song,” Howard notes. “Across the continent, as males arrive on territory they begin to sing. That true robin song that you hear nonstop all day or certainly through the morning means your local male has arrived.”
Males arrive first to establish their territories – they will fight with their feet to defend them. In spring the males become so territorial that they’ve been known to beat themselves up while trying to fight their own reflection.
“Females arrive a couple of weeks later,” Howard says. “They’re not in a rush. Their job is to have fat stores as plentiful as possible. They don’t want to burn through calories by migrating too early. They need to be in good condition.”
Arriving too early can be bad for reproduction too. A spring freeze can damage the integrity of the nest.
Only the females have a brood patch, an area of warm featherless skin that’s used to transfer body heat to the eggs. Females spend about 50 minutes of every hour on the nest during incubation. It’s two weeks from egg laying to hatching and robins will start a new nest within the month. Robins nest as many as four times each summer, depending on how far north they are.
As in winter, water is one of the best ways to attract robins to your yard in spring.
“If you turn on a sprinkler you’ll have robins within minutes,” Howard says. “It makes the soil soft and earthworms and other food easy to collect.”
Report Your Robin Observations
You can report robin observations to Journey North all year round. As spring approaches, Journey North has a checklist of robin life cycle events to track and report:
- Over-wintering robins – watch for flocks.
- First male robin – you will know it is a male by his bold red breast and his dark head and back.
- First wave of robins – three or more robins together (but not in the winter) is a sign that migration is peaking.
- Average temperature reaches 36° F – help Journey North find out whether or not this is truly when robins sing.
- First earthworm – help Journey North find out if robin arrival is tied to earthworm availability.
- First robin song – listen for the robin’s true song.
- First female robin – she will look washed out compared to the male.
- First males in battle – they will be fighting over territories.
- Nest building begins – watch for males with a mouthful of nest materials or females with muddy breasts.
- Incubation underway – if you’re not seeing the female around anymore, she’s probably busy incubating.
- Young hatch – watch for adults flying with worms.
- First young fledge – fledglings don’t fly and have a spotted breast. You might see them on the ground or in low branches.
- First young take wing – within a few days of fledging watch for the juveniles to start their practice flights.
- Parents start another nest – when you see the male feeding the fledglings, but the female is absent, she has likely disappeared to incubate a new set of eggs.
“One of the great things about robins is they’re so accessible,” Howard says. “You can look out your window and see them. There’s so much to learn about such an unsung hero.”
Have you noticed unusual robin behavior in your neighborhood or? Share it in the comments and report your sightings to Journey North.
I live in north Texas, Dallas/Ft. Worth area. The number of robins this winter is amazing. I noticed the large flocks about 2 weeks ago. Texas has had an unbelievable winter with extreme lows. The robins flock on the roofs and on the ground. I have never seen so many at one time.
I live in FtWorth,Texas and we are having a terrific amount of robins in February 2021. so happy to have them ?
I’ve seen robins here in St. Louis in the county along a river bed near our home all winter in the past but this is the first time they have hung around our neighborhood. This is definitely a change in their habits. After the robins ate all the berries around here, I have put out dried chopped cranberries and fruit and dry mealworms, and they eat that. Also have a heated birdbath that all of the bite enjoy.
I saw a female robin this morning. I’m in Austin, Texas and we just came thru the worst freeze we have had for I don’t know how many years. Yesterday it got up in the 50’s, today the 70’s, and the previous week we were in the teens and single digits with 8 to 10+ inches of snow. This robin stayed just far enough from me in a yard, didn’t try to fly away, but hopped around the yard. Makes me wonder if she is planning on nesting in the nearby trees. Her pictures are on my fb page.
2/21/21 Flock of robins around my Okemos home, drinking from heated bath about a week ago, yesterday and this morning, from the thawed water in gutter yesterday afternoon. Last week bright red scat, lumpy–probably seeds, probably from wild honeysuckle berries? Today brown, lumpy scat plus some more ‘traditional’ bird looking.
Today is 2/21/21 and in my 81 years this is the first time I have ever saw a male robin in the winter. We live in Williamston, Michigan where the temperature was below zero two days ago, and today’s temp only reached a high of 32 degrees. The robin was sitting in a flowering berry tree that the squirrels eat from all winter. The tree is about picked clean, but the robin was eating one of the few berries left. We have very little open ground in our yard, only a place we shovel out for the dog to do her business, the rest of the yard is three and four foot snow banks so I was really, really stunned to see a robin sitting in a tree .I will put out some fresh water as you suggest. We do have several bird feeders that we fill a couple times a day,some suet blocks, as well as food for the squirrels that the deer help themselves to also. I sincerely hope this robin finds enough to eat, and a warm place to sleep.
I live in Richmond, Texas, just west of Houston, and saw a Robin visit my backyard during our snow / ice storm and 5 days of below freezing temperatures.
I put out extra birdseed, which attracted birds that don’t typically visit our backyard.
It was the first time I have ever seen a Robin in this area.
We saw lots of Robins during the extreme cold weather here in kirbyville, Tx. The Robins were all very fat. I enjoyed reading your article because I was wondering why i was seeing so many in the cold weather.
Feb. 21, 2021. We moved back into our house on the 18th of February after spending a couple of nights with our daughter who had not lost power during our most unusual period of very cold temperatures and heavy snow. I opened the miniblinds that opened into our backyard and saw a most unusual sight…… The leafless tree in our backyard was covered with what appeared to be many fluttering leaves. Then as I watched, the “leaves” took flight. A large number of small birds flew out across the neighborhood. One chubby little one stayed on top of the fence long enough for me to see the coloring and feel sure these were robins. I am 83 years old and do not ever remember seeing this same event before, certainly not in this area in North Texas where we have lived for over forty years!
I was so happy to have this article pop up on my Kindle this morning and give Lisa’s explanation to me!
ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS FLOCKS HAVE BEEN ABOUT FOR OVER A MONTH NOW.
QUESTION: I have some old feather pillows that if tossed about my yard would any birds use them for nesting?
Reminder for humming bird safety, PLEASE REMOVE SYNTHETIC DECORATIVE SPIDER WEBBING.
From Central Ohio, we’ve seen several robins, haven’t see large flocks though, throughout this cold, snowy winter. They have been the only bird we’ve seen eating chokeberries that were plentiful for the first time this year. We keep two heated bird baths going all late fall, winter and into spring. The robins love to bathe and drink from them, especially in the mornings. We have tray feeders with homemade suet cakes containing seeds, lard, peanut butter and mealworms. They like those so much. They also clear our serviceberry bushes of all berries in late spring. Robins are wonderful! Thanks for your helpful information!
Yesterday morning, Feb 20, 2021, I was awakened by birds. Flocks of birds swirling all around my home chirping loudly. I viewed an awesome sight! A berry shrub was being shaken by a flock of these birds. It was crazy, but after reading the article about the robins, everything made sense!!! I was in awe for sure. The Robin is my Michigan state bird. I viewed this event in Texas. I’m so glad they come to visit me and my yard!
I live outside of Medina, Tx and we had an unusual snow event last week and now there are red breasted robins all over our property. Since it rarely snows here it is something I have just observed this year. We have about 50 acres and they are everywhere. All the snow has melted and our temperatures are rising to the 60’s- 70’s. Thought you might like this info. Leslie
We received 5-6 inches of snow in McKinney, Texas this past week. One day, as the snow was melting off of the roof of the house behind us, I noticed a flock of over 20 robins flew onto the roof. They seemed to be sunning for about 10 minutes! I’ve never seen them this early before Spring !
Wow finally an answer to the groups of robins messing with my brain. I thought I was seeing things when I first spotted these flocks of robins by open water area of my frozen pond. They were hanging out in single digit temps during January in Michigan. I couldn’t believe it. I’d never seen this behavior before now. I can now rest assured I’m joined by others who are seeing such amazing sightings