Look, there’s a robin in the backyard pulling a long juicy looking earthworm. Spring must be around the corner. Roaming the backyard is an American Robin, easy to spot by its brown back and reddish-orange breast. The bill, currently used to hold that worm, is mainly yellow with a variably dark tip. Some may argue that the dark tip is the result of digging for those juicy worms. The next day, fourteen inches of snow and temperatures in the single digits. Are the robins gone again? No, listen, there’s a couple of them singing up there in the trees. Despite the drastic change in weather, spring should be almost here.

Do robins really mean that spring is almost here? The answer is, it depends. Ongoing studies on robin migration are underway. What we do know is that some robins migrate, others don’t. They seem to go where food is readily available. They usually have a mixed diet of garden insects like earthworms, beetles, grubs, grasshoppers, and those cute little caterpillars. This makes up about forty percent of their food source. The rest comes mainly from wild and cultivated fruits and berries. Due to their ability to switch to fruits and berries, robins tend to stay much further north in the winter than many birds. If the area has a good supply of berries throughout the winter, the robin will stick around.

A determining factor for seeing the robin in the backyard at the end of winter is the thaw of the ground, the arrival of rain and the movement of worms. An interesting fact is that the worms come to the surface during rain to avoid drowning in their hole. Temporary moist conditions give the worms a chance to move safely to new locations. Since worms breathe through their skin, the skin must remain moist for oxygen to pass through. After rain, or when there is high humidity, the worms can move about without dehydrating. As we all know, the earthworm is not a speed demon and is therefore an easy target for waiting robins. The reality is that robins do not need to wait. They have great vision and listening skills. A robin can often be seen hopping, turning its head in multiple directions. This is the robin detecting the movement of its prey, whether on the surface or underground. The hunt is on and usually ends with a robin win.

Once spring has arrived and the robin can now be seen on a daily basis, it is not long before the breeding season begins. The robin is one of the first birds to lay eggs as warmer temperatures return. Their normal breeding season occurs from April to July. During this time frame, most robins will have two to three clutches. Since deciduous trees do not put leaves until sometime in May, most first nests are built in some type of evergreen tree or shrub. The robin will rebuild its nest for the next pair of young, mostly in deciduous trees. We’ve probably all seen robin eggs, either in a nest or in a picture. Three to five beautiful light blue eggs are laid. The eggs hatch in fourteen days. Remarkably, two weeks later, the young can be seen flying and jumping. So, if we do the math, a North American robin could have up to fifteen chicks a year. There is also no point in trying to attract a robin to your birdhouse. They do not nest in cavities. A platform nailed to a tree or bush has a much better chance of attracting a nesting robin.

The most vulnerable time for the robin, like many birds, is during the nesting period. Eggs and juvenile robins are preyed upon by snakes, squirrels, and other larger birds. That being said, the adult bird is also vulnerable, especially when it becomes distracted while feeding. The robin has threats both on the ground and in the air. Cats, dogs and snakes will search for them on the ground. From the air, almost all varieties of hawks, eagles, hawks, and owls feed on robins. There are more than twenty-eight varieties of birds of prey, looking for a robin lunch. Despite this, the robin is a strong species with over 320 million members. With numbers like these, we will continue to enjoy seeing and hearing our first arrival of robins of the spring season.