Hi, James. I agree with everyone else, they seem to love mealworms and suet best.
Glad he has not disappeared. They are very fearless, also territorial. Your young one may make your garden his territory if he survives the winter, and could become quite tame. Although their territories seem to be quite small, and you may see a couple feeding over winter, once spring comes you will probably only see one male. I have been fascinated watching ours this yr, and was amazed to discover how much the male helps in bringing up the young. He had a major fight early on in the spring, and as he has been with us since we moved in, I was scared that he may be getting a bit elderly and be driven off or even killed (as I believe they can do), but he came out on top, and duly bred. We know he is 'ours', as he has a couple of white feathers on one wing that must be a scar of some sort, and make him 'special'! He is also very tame, and would feed out of my hand, I think, if I would sit still for long enough! He gets almost under my feet when I'm digging or weeding, but although he will snatch mealworms that I throw, he won't take anything that i throw to him that I have dug up. Perhaps he sees his own gourmet menu there!
Because of the white feathers (We also have a crow with an almost completely white wing! Not so fascinating, just a bully, even to buzzards!), I have been able to recognise him, and to follow him all yr, which I couldn't reliably do wherever I have lived before.
I was very surprised to see how much a part he takes in the care of the chicks, and this was only because I found a nest by accident. Now here is where I become confused. I had thought, as I believe that most of you on this thread do, that the male had th red-breast, and the female was drab. According to everything I have looked up on the internet, the female has a red breast, too.
I had a pile of junk, mostly in bags, ready to go to tip, but car off rd. I kept going into my shed, very close to this pile, and a bird kept flying at my head. After a couple of times, I started to look to see from where, then started to make more noise as I got closer to see where she was coming from (by then , I had twigged that there must be a nest) Sure enough, with careful inspection, I found a nest. with pale blue eggshells under it, in an old compost bag with a broken pot just inside it. The eggshells said Robin, to me, but the bird that flew out was smaller and just brown. Then one day, it was 'MY' robin that flew at me from away from the nest. So I watched more, and saw that he was taking food to the nest, almost constantly. So, he was feeding babies (and possibly the mum, whilst she was sitting), but she looked just brown, almost like a wren. And I'm almost certain that, until my boy had his fight in spring, that he was the only robin I had seen in my garden until then.
So MY question is, does the female moult or remove feathers when breeding?
Last wk, a robin was on our telegraph line while my neighbour and I talked, and we both remarked on how noisy and persistent he was. Then I ran round to my house, as heard phone, and startled a bird into my conservatory. I threw a towel over it, caught it, and found it was a juvenile robin, still scruffy but getting a few red feathers. Showed it to kids, took round to neighbour and let it go, and it flew straight up to the robin on the line and they flew away together! Was this it's Dad (too far away to make out white feathers), or Mum, or what? I'm now fascinated and trying to find out more about them, other than what they will eat and when I am likely to see them. I took them for granted before, but have been fascinated by thier ways and antics this yr, just 'cos one had a couple of white feathers!
Oh, and I've also found that they love breadcrumbs, fruit loaf, cake crumbs and over-ripe raspberries, and will happily eat from the ground on the middle of the lawn or the patio nr the house. They don't care about the dog or people, and as we only have one local cat, I can't say whether feeders are better nr trees for birds to escape to, or in the open so they can see cats coming. The robins,sparrows, tits and finches all wait in the morning for crumbs thrown on lawn and patio with birdfood, leftover pet rat food, mealworms, etc, and are used to the dog going out for his ablutions and me standing at the door for my first fag of the day while they eat just a few feet away. I don't use feeders as the squirrels and crows just wreck them, cost me an arm and a leg, and the nice birds get nowt!
Robins are one of my favorite birds. We have lived in this house for quite a few years now and every year there is a robin. We had one in the other house too and I told my boys when they were small that it was the same robin that had flown to our new house to be with us!! Although of course this was a little story for them, I do wonder how long they do live for, as for the past few years my robin seems to be the same one. He quite often sits on my french door handle and peers in , I know that lots of birds could do exactly the same thing but it just seems to be the same one!
We live near a lake which has ducks living there and they waddle up the road looking for food. They know who feeds them and quite often I find them sitting on my front grass waiting to be fed. And sometimes they even 'knock' on the door with their beaks!! As you can see I am having trouble sleeping tonight! Good job I am not working today!!!
They're territorial jeannie but there all year round. People used to believe that robins were only here in winter which was down to the pictures on Christmas cards but they're residents. Both sexes the same colouring. In a previous house we had one who regularly saw off pretenders to his throne. I used to feed one at my front door - he was quite unconcerned about us going in and out. At my last house we enjoyed watching a young one grow and get his red tummy and he came each day with all the other birds and sat on his little perch on a clematis to wait for the bits to fall from the bird feeder. They quickly learn when food gets put out. We also had pheasants which often sat on the window ledges - wide stone ones - and looked in at us!
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I thought the sexes were the same, Fairy, and I know they're here all yr, and know for sure that we have had the same male for the last 3 yrs, as it would be too much of a coincidence for two to have the same white feathers and the same regular habits.. So how are we all so sure that it is a male we are feedng regularly? I do think the females may be a little more shy, and I have seen 'OUR' boy fighting off 'strange' lads. I know that we see a little less of them in the summer when they moult, and that they can be quite drab ans scruffy- looking then, but wonder whether the female plucks her breast feathers for her nest as some other birds do, leading to her looking plainer and smaller?
Do you know how long they live, as Lily also asks?
And, Lily, you're up even later than me! They do get very tame, don't they? You'll notice when your resident robin has gone, as the new one will not have the same habits, at least, not straightaway. You'll know he's different.
True, the average lifespan for a robin is 1.1 years, with only 1 in 4 surviving to their first birthday (there is a very high mortality rate), but for those who do they can life longer (maybe 5 or 6 years).
Went to a National Trust property over the summer and they were ringing wild birds, the oldest recorded Robin that they had, on the estate, I think was 9 years old.
Posts
James,
I too have had the pleasure of a young robin in the garden,
He was just getting his red breast,then he vanished, i hope to another garden.
it's funny because i had not seen any adults around since spring.
Hi, James. I agree with everyone else, they seem to love mealworms and suet best.
Glad he has not disappeared. They are very fearless, also territorial. Your young one may make your garden his territory if he survives the winter, and could become quite tame. Although their territories seem to be quite small, and you may see a couple feeding over winter, once spring comes you will probably only see one male. I have been fascinated watching ours this yr, and was amazed to discover how much the male helps in bringing up the young. He had a major fight early on in the spring, and as he has been with us since we moved in, I was scared that he may be getting a bit elderly and be driven off or even killed (as I believe they can do), but he came out on top, and duly bred. We know he is 'ours', as he has a couple of white feathers on one wing that must be a scar of some sort, and make him 'special'! He is also very tame, and would feed out of my hand, I think, if I would sit still for long enough! He gets almost under my feet when I'm digging or weeding, but although he will snatch mealworms that I throw, he won't take anything that i throw to him that I have dug up. Perhaps he sees his own gourmet menu there!
Because of the white feathers (We also have a crow with an almost completely white wing! Not so fascinating, just a bully, even to buzzards!), I have been able to recognise him, and to follow him all yr, which I couldn't reliably do wherever I have lived before.
I was very surprised to see how much a part he takes in the care of the chicks, and this was only because I found a nest by accident. Now here is where I become confused. I had thought, as I believe that most of you on this thread do, that the male had th red-breast, and the female was drab. According to everything I have looked up on the internet, the female has a red breast, too.
I had a pile of junk, mostly in bags, ready to go to tip, but car off rd. I kept going into my shed, very close to this pile, and a bird kept flying at my head. After a couple of times, I started to look to see from where, then started to make more noise as I got closer to see where she was coming from (by then , I had twigged that there must be a nest) Sure enough, with careful inspection, I found a nest. with pale blue eggshells under it, in an old compost bag with a broken pot just inside it. The eggshells said Robin, to me, but the bird that flew out was smaller and just brown. Then one day, it was 'MY' robin that flew at me from away from the nest. So I watched more, and saw that he was taking food to the nest, almost constantly. So, he was feeding babies (and possibly the mum, whilst she was sitting), but she looked just brown, almost like a wren. And I'm almost certain that, until my boy had his fight in spring, that he was the only robin I had seen in my garden until then.
So MY question is, does the female moult or remove feathers when breeding?
Last wk, a robin was on our telegraph line while my neighbour and I talked, and we both remarked on how noisy and persistent he was. Then I ran round to my house, as heard phone, and startled a bird into my conservatory. I threw a towel over it, caught it, and found it was a juvenile robin, still scruffy but getting a few red feathers. Showed it to kids, took round to neighbour and let it go, and it flew straight up to the robin on the line and they flew away together! Was this it's Dad (too far away to make out white feathers), or Mum, or what? I'm now fascinated and trying to find out more about them, other than what they will eat and when I am likely to see them. I took them for granted before, but have been fascinated by thier ways and antics this yr, just 'cos one had a couple of white feathers!
Oh, and I've also found that they love breadcrumbs, fruit loaf, cake crumbs and over-ripe raspberries, and will happily eat from the ground on the middle of the lawn or the patio nr the house. They don't care about the dog or people, and as we only have one local cat, I can't say whether feeders are better nr trees for birds to escape to, or in the open so they can see cats coming. The robins,sparrows, tits and finches all wait in the morning for crumbs thrown on lawn and patio with birdfood, leftover pet rat food, mealworms, etc, and are used to the dog going out for his ablutions and me standing at the door for my first fag of the day while they eat just a few feet away. I don't use feeders as the squirrels and crows just wreck them, cost me an arm and a leg, and the nice birds get nowt!
Robins are one of my favorite birds. We have lived in this house for quite a few years now and every year there is a robin. We had one in the other house too and I told my boys when they were small that it was the same robin that had flown to our new house to be with us!! Although of course this was a little story for them, I do wonder how long they do live for, as for the past few years my robin seems to be the same one. He quite often sits on my french door handle and peers in , I know that lots of birds could do exactly the same thing but it just seems to be the same one!
We live near a lake which has ducks living there and they waddle up the road looking for food. They know who feeds them and quite often I find them sitting on my front grass waiting to be fed. And sometimes they even 'knock' on the door with their beaks!! As you can see I am having trouble sleeping tonight! Good job I am not working today!!!
They're territorial jeannie but there all year round. People used to believe that robins were only here in winter which was down to the pictures on Christmas cards but they're residents. Both sexes the same colouring. In a previous house we had one who regularly saw off pretenders to his throne. I used to feed one at my front door - he was quite unconcerned about us going in and out. At my last house we enjoyed watching a young one grow and get his red tummy and he came each day with all the other birds and sat on his little perch on a clematis to wait for the bits to fall from the bird feeder. They quickly learn when food gets put out. We also had pheasants which often sat on the window ledges - wide stone ones - and looked in at us!
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I thought the sexes were the same, Fairy, and I know they're here all yr, and know for sure that we have had the same male for the last 3 yrs, as it would be too much of a coincidence for two to have the same white feathers and the same regular habits.. So how are we all so sure that it is a male we are feedng regularly? I do think the females may be a little more shy, and I have seen 'OUR' boy fighting off 'strange' lads. I know that we see a little less of them in the summer when they moult, and that they can be quite drab ans scruffy- looking then, but wonder whether the female plucks her breast feathers for her nest as some other birds do, leading to her looking plainer and smaller?
Do you know how long they live, as Lily also asks?
And, Lily, you're up even later than me! They do get very tame, don't they? You'll notice when your resident robin has gone, as the new one will not have the same habits, at least, not straightaway. You'll know he's different.
Male and female robins are identical - by the end of nesting time both of them look a bit bedraggled - but the ones without red breasts are juveniles.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/birdguide/name/r/robin/index.aspx
The average lifespan of a robin is just over 12 months.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Oh is that all
Think mine must be special and is the same one 
Oh is that all
Think mine must be special and is the same one 
True, the average lifespan for a robin is 1.1 years, with only 1 in 4 surviving to their first birthday (there is a very high mortality rate), but for those who do they can life longer (maybe 5 or 6 years).
Went to a National Trust property over the summer and they were ringing wild birds, the oldest recorded Robin that they had, on the estate, I think was 9 years old.
So you might have a special robin star gaze lily