American Robin

There is no denying that the American Robin is one beautiful bird, especially when you take a closer look. A group of friends and I stood and admired this handsome male yesterday, 18 March 2013, on a walk from Stanley Park to Erlton St. and back. I would imagine that this might have been one of the handful that overwintered in Calgary? I almost gave up on going yesterday, as all my car doors froze shut overnight. Took 30-40 minutes for the bottle of squirty lock de-icer to finally work, so I was very late getting to the park and finding my friends. Two male and one female Wood Ducks were a treat to see, too. We also saw two wild European Rabbits in someone's backyard. I think that is the second place I've seen them in the city, the other area being near St. Mary's Cemetery. "The American Robin or North American Robin (Turdus migratorius) is a migratory songbird of the thrush family. It is named after the European Robin because of its reddish-orange breast, though the two species are not closely related, with the European robin belonging to the flycatcher family. The American Robin is widely distributed throughout North America, wintering south of Canada from Florida to central Mexico and along the Pacific Coast. It is the state bird of Connecticut, Michigan, and Wisconsin. According to some sources, the American Robin ranks behind only the Red-winged Blackbird (and just ahead of the introduced European Starling) as the most abundant, extant land bird in North America." From Wikipedia. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Robin Only 13 photos from my Flickr Contacts have appeared on my Home Page since late last night. Hoping that it's just a case of everyone being busy and not the Flickr issue that was supposedly "fixed" recently.

A photo taken in fading light, while my friends and I waited by the river in Great Falls, Montana, US, for the sunset to happen. So now I've finally seen an American Robin in America, not Canada. I wonder if this one had flown south all the way from Calgary, to escape our bitter winter : ) Almost all the Robins here fly south, but we can be lucky enough to see one that for some reason chose to remain here. Taken on 11 September 2012, the first day of our week's trip down to Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

Had to stop and watch a family of American Robins after the Leafy Spurge "pull" this morning. These two young birds posed very nicely for me, though the lighting wasn't the greatest :) Erika's Mum - these birds are not far from where Erika works.

This poser showed me his front view (posted here a while ago), then his side here and finally his back (which I will post later). He really did a great job and he's a beauty.

This afternoon, I went down to a local park to look for a Robin's nest that I had been told about. It was easy to find, close to the side of the path and just below eye level. Not low enough to be able to see the eggs, though I had been told that there were eggs in the nest. When I arrived, Dad was sitting on the edge of the nest. I waited a while and Mom returned to the nest, rearranged a few pieces of grass and then made herself comfortable for incubating. Thank goodness for zoom, so as not to stress the birds! While I was watching this pair of Robins, a Northern Flickr was noisily banging in the next tree and Red-winged Blackbirds were vocalizing a few feet away in a small swamp area.

It's always a treat to see a Robin in the winter, as most of them fly to warmer places. Four of us were lucky to see this one on our Calgary Christmas Bird Count that covered a few communities in north east Calgary. "The American Robin or North American Robin (Turdus migratorius) is a migratory songbird of the thrush family. It is named after the European Robin because of its reddish-orange breast, though the two species are not closely related, with the European robin belonging to the flycatcher family. Most migrate to winter south of Canada from Florida and the Gulf Coast to central Mexico, as well as along the Pacific Coast. Most depart south by the end of August and begin to return north in February and March (exact dates vary with latitude and climate)." en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Robin

We came across this Robin on its nest when a few of us were doing the May Species Count at Votier's Flats, in Fish Creek Park on Saturday, May 28th. It was very close to the path and not very high up - always surprises me that Robins build nests that are so obvious - and I zoomed right in, of course, so got a close shot without disturbing the bird. I was back in the same area two days ago, and do you think I could find this nest again, lol? However, i did see another one, but it was very high up.

I could have cropped a little closer, but I liked the effect of all the dangling catkins : ) Seen on an outing yesterday morning east of Calgary, in the Shepard area.

When no one else turned up for a day trip to the Medicine River Wildlife Rehab Centre on Sunday, I took a walk around Inglewood Bird Sanctuary, which had been the meeting place. Not a whole lot to be seen (7:30 a.m.), but I was happy to see this beautiful American Robin, which helped ease my disappointment a little : )