ngoomie's Favorites

Lots of happy splashing going on in the simple Pyrex dish bird bath. Many birds use the bird bath for bathing and drinking so the water is changed twice a day. At one point, there were 3 Robins enthusiastically sharing the dish.

American Robin (Turdus migratorius) is a medium-sized bird, 25cm (10 inches) long, in the Thrushes (Turdidae) family. Bill is yellow. Tail has white corners that are visible in flight. Male Robin has a bolder white broken eye ring and a darker brick red breast than female. Juvenile Robin has a heavily black-spotted orange breast. Diet is mostly insects, berries, and earthworms. In early summer, insects make up majority of diet; also feeds on many earthworms, snails, spiders, other invertebrates. It feeds heavily on fruit, especially in winter (fruit accounts for perhaps 60% of diet year-round); mainly wild berries, also some cultivated fruits. Young are fed mostly on insects and earthworms. Robins eat different types of food depending on the time of day: more earthworms in the morning and more fruit later in the day. Because the robin forages largely on lawns, it is vulnerable to pesticide poisoning.

Link to my favorite American Robin observations: splashing in the bird bath: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/207919606 and https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/209923119 and in the desert: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/144444300

Law's Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada, John Muir Laws, California Academy of Sciences, 2007, p. 273.

The Cornell Lab (Birds in U.S. and Canada) https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin

Audubon Guide to North American Birds https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/american-robin

Ebird with species description, range map and sound recordings: https://ebird.org/species/amerob/

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 7th ed., 2017, pp. 414-415.

National Geographic Field Guide to the Birds of Western North America, ed. Jon L. Dunn, 2008, p. 314-315.

Monterey Birds, Don Roberson, 2nd ed. 2002, sponsored by Monterey Peninsula Audubon Society,
p. 373.

Xeno-canto: Bird songs, sound recordings, bird range and migration map: https://xeno-canto.org/species/Turdus-migratorius

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Merlin Bird ID: How to use/get the portable App (Bird ID help for 8,500+ species) https://merlin.allaboutbirds.org/

Found Feathers: INaturalist Project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/found-feathers
Comprehensive Feather I.D. tools and more: https://foundfeathers.org/resources/
Found Feathers (Worldwide): https://www.fws.gov/lab/featheratlas/idtool.php

Irene's Ebird Profile: https://ebird.org/profile/MTIwNjIzMg and my worldwide bird checklists: https://ebird.org/mychecklists

Irene's Birds (Aves class) observations on INaturalist: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&taxon_id=3&user_id=aparrot1&verifiable=any

Irene's (aparrot1) Profile Page on INaturalist listing Nature Resources (includes online references with links) for Plants, Birds, Fungi, Arachnids, Reptiles, Amphibians, Marine Life, Plant Galls, and more: https://www.inaturalist.org/people/3188668