The American Robin is a bird that everyone recognizes, and one of the first birds that we come to know as children.  You've probably heard a song referencing a Robin, and we all know the Caped Crusader's sidekick is named after the bird.  But did you know that the American Robin was first described in 1766? or that it's Latin name - Turdus migratorius does not mean what you'd think it does....Turdus is Latin for Thrush, and migratorius means "to go."  And I know what the rest of you were thinking it meant.  

     The American Robin is a migratory songbird that is one of the first birds to lay eggs in the Spring, and will have two or three sets of young ones during a year; which also explains their estimated North American total of 320 million individuals!  The color of Robin's red breast is surprisingly variable; it ranges from a rich reddish-maroon to a peachy-orange, and this is dependent on it's territory----there are seven different sub-species.  Adults are nine to eleven inches from beak to tail, with wingspans of twelve to sixteen inches.  Their eggs (3 to 5 per nest) American Robin/Portrait ~ Wind River CanyonPortrait of an American Robin-Photographed in Wind River Canyon, Wyoming. are Robin's egg blue, which worked out just fine.  

     The male Robin is usually a little brighter in color and a little bit bigger than the female, and that's the best shot I've got at getting the gender right.  They eat bugs and beetles, and of course worms, but 60% of their diet consists of berries, which is why I'm blogging about the American Robin on November first; you see, Robins migrate to the Wind River Canyon to spend the winter, because we have an overabundance of Juniper berries.  I've sat with breakfast on New Year's Day, and watched a large flock eating the berries in sub-zero temperatures!  So, in Wyoming Robins are not a good sign of Spring, at least not here in the Wind River Canyon.

     Banders have proven that there's a first year survival of only 25%.  If you do the math quickly in your head, there's a lot of missing Robins; and that's easy to explain really, as they end up being food for various hungry predators.  Domestic cats kill many of them, but 28 Raptor species also make them a meal; everything from the small Kestrel to the Golden Eagle.  The list of wild animals that make a Robin a meal is long, but what surprised me the most, as I was researching this article, is that the Robin was used for food in early America.  So they were not endangered then, and they are not endangered now; but you cannot eat them, as they are protected by the Migratory Bird Act, as most birds you wouldn't want to eat, are on the list.  

     The oldest known Robin lived fourteen years, which seems very respectable for eating worms and berries; which leads me to the hearing ability of Robins.  If you've ever watched closely as a Robin hunts for a worm in your yard, then you've seen her cock her head this way and that.  As it turns out you were right all along, the most recent experiments suggest they do hear the worm in your yard!

     The portrait of the American Robin in this week's blog was shot in October, and I just walked right up to him.  It took a little more time and patience than that, but that's the technique in a bottle.  I was so close, with the camera at hand, that his image filled the frame, with only a very small strip of the file removed from the right side that seemed excessive.  I worked the files back and forth in Digital Photo Professional (Canon's supplied software) and Adobe Lightroom 5.6 till I had one that made me smile; I'm actually in the picture itself....look very closely and you will see me in this Robin's eye.

     Camera ~ Canon 7D with grip; lens ~ Canon 300mm f/4L and 1.4 Canon extender; hand-held @ 1/320 - f/5.6, ISO 400.  The sensor sees 420mm, and if 1/320th seems slow for a hand-held shot your right, but I have image stabilization in the 21st century, and very steady hands.

     Thank you for reading this week's blog, and I hope you learned something new, I know I did; until next Saturday...."Keep your camera ready."

writing and photography by Michael John Balog.

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