How The American Robin Got Its Name

The quintessential early bird, American Robins are common sights on lawns across North America, where you often see them tugging earthworms out of the ground.
The American Robin was named after the European Robin by early Settlers. Many people believe that it was because of the similarity in color, or was it?
Video Credit
European Robin and Common Blackbird By Micael Billerbeck
/ peiselkopp
European Robin and Common Blackbird By Manfred (mbhsug)
/ mbhsug
Photo Credit
Baltimore Oriole By John Kees (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)], via Wikimedia Commons
Bluebird By Ken Thomas (KenThomas.us (personal website of photographer)) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Towhee By Mike's Birds (Eastern Towhee Uploaded by Magnus Manske) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)], via Wikimedia Commons
Scarlet Robin By Patrick_K59 (Scarlet Robin (Petroica boodang)) [CC BY 2.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)], via Wikimedia Commons
Red-capped Robin By Aviceda (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/b...)], via Wikimedia Commons
Music
Life of Riley Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
creativecommons.org/licenses/b...
If you enjoyed this video please help support the channel by SHARING it on Facebook and Twitter. It’s a free way to help me TREMENDOUSLY! I GREATLY appreciate your support and I hope you enjoy the show!
Other ways to Support LesleytheBirdNerd
-----------------------------
Lesley the Bird Nerd Merchandise from Teespring.com
teespring.com/stores/lesleyth...
Lesley the Bird Nerd Merchandise from Bonfire.com www.bonfire.com/store/lesleyt...
Donate via Paypal
www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr...
Also, find LesleytheBirdNerd here:
------------------------------------
Facebook Page
/ lesleythebirdnerd
Instagram
/ lesleythebirdnerd
============================================
If you have a sick or injured bird in your possession I can not help this bird in any way it is strongly advised to contact a local vet or wildlife official before any decisions are made. It is very easy to do more harm than good when handling any wildlife.
===============================================
For business inquiries, please contact Jamie at
[e-mail]
===============================================
For P.O. Box and shipping details, please contact Jamie at
[e-mail]
===============================================

[@Tom-du4hb]

The Robin's twilight morning song, twilight evening song, pre and post rain song, are all basically the same, and can be partly heard at the end of this video. For me, probably my most favorite bird song. Learning about the Eurasian Black Bird in this video, I wondered if their songs are also similar to the Robins'. After searching and listening, they are indeed very similar songs. Many of the notes are exactly alike with the only difference being pitch and tonal qualities. Very cool. Thank you Leslie for this "Did You Know" series. Paul McCartney's "Black Bird" song at last makes sense. Our Black Birds don't have the greatest songs, and why he wrote about Black Birds singing always baffled me a bit. Not anymore. :)

[@firefalcon9368]

the american robin along with the mourning dove was the first two birds i could ever identify just by their song/calls. I've had whole flocks of like 100+ robins in my yard at times on their way back north. quite a sight to see. American Robins are useful to me with their 'rain' song. Grew up hearing my mom saying 'well the robin's saying it's going to rain' and usually, the robin was right.

[@diannajepson8708]

I met a cute little Robin in Ireland in 2019, I also met a Eurasian Blackbird. I agree that our American Robin has a lot more in common with the Blackbird, but I can also see why they love their cute little Robin Red Breast.

[@Sara-bd9vb]

Thanks again for another great share! The Native Americans named the red robin; my favorite story comes from the northwest coast. During an extremely cold year, the people retreated to caves for warmth. The grandfather left in charge of keeping the fire fell asleep, and the fire grew dim. The robin found everyone asleep the next morning with the embers barely lit, he flapped his wings to keep it going and was honored with a badge of honor for saving the people. The white circle around his eye represents wisdom, insight; while the yellow beak reminds us to be mindful of the spoken word. The robin was a sign to only present the highest truth when speaking and to capture every thought.

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

Yes, I love that story, too and will be including it in another "Did You Know Birding?" episode, "Bird Mythologies", that I've been working on. Can't wait to do that one :)

[@jerrymammoser1509]

Sara ...how thoughtful and well-told. I’ll probably carry this with me for....ever. Thanks, Sara.

[@Jillybean711]

I love American robins. One of my favorite backyard birds. One of my favorite things to do, is confuse people, and I suppose that carries over to my birding. I met an older juvenile robin rummaging through my raspberry bush, I accidently startled the dear. It flew onto my fence and looked at me. It became apparent to me they were curious. It gave out a sort of call I imagine as a "Hello, who are you?" I mimicked the call, and it looked incredibly confused. Probably wondering why this featherless bird was speaking robin. It then aptly replied. We went on like this for quite some time, until it flew into a tree nearby, still replying to me. I then went back into my house, I looked at my dad, and you know what I said? I put my arms in the air and said; " We've finally made contact."

[@debrabiderman4275]

The importance of the American Robin as a harbinger of spring was what made it such a watched bird for me. Now, in Connecticut some robins winter through and here in Florida it's been ages since I've seen one.

[@MrJonathanhodgson]

Love those Robins singing early in the morning. They sound so happy! Another great video Lesley.

[@GAPSYO3O1]

I see the common blackbird in the robin but I can definitely see why they were considered robins when the settlers came over here, the Robins in my neighborhoods are always so friendly! I remember growing up, my grandma would be digging in the ground to plant some new tomatoes and the robins would always stand around her eating the worms that she would dig up! My grandma always thought they would starve if she wasn’t planting all the time haha

[@SW13333]

Hi Lesley - I never knew any of this about the Robin. I think the shape and look of the Blackbird resembles it most. We do not have Blackbirds where I am but we have Common and Great Tail Grackles and the male Cowbirds are black and also Crows (which are disappearing due to all of the land being stripped due to building houses and businesses). Thanks for the video!

[@bluegreengravity3806]

What a mesmerizing video & such beautiful singing. To me a plaintive song. So solitary. So beautiful.

[@BirdsandGhibliFan]

I also wonder if the robin is where the the saying, "The early bird gets the worm" comes from, especially considering that you can hear them as early as 4:00 in the morning and they eat earthworms.

[@SanJuanMountainBob]

Well, another good dose of knowledge Lesley. Thanks for working on these videos - I learn a bunch from you!

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

Thanks, Bob! Back soon with more :)

[@harpertesterman3776]

My name is robin heheh

[@bertanelson8062]

Just love your videos!

[@at4420]

Never been to Europe or any part of the old world, but seen videos of their birds, especially their colorful birds in Australia.

[@cherylknight6080]

Wow, that was really interesting about the blackbird Robin. Yes, I can how much alike they are! I wish they lived around here. Thank you, Leslie, I really have enjoyed these Robin videos so much. And thank you for taking the time out to do them. Such Awesome work you do!!

[@lindaaumiller174]

I love birds. this segment was great.

[@benhatto]

I was at Magee marsh and there was a robin, and then somebody said "Look, an orange-breasted thrush!" I almost died laughing...

[@NWIbluejay]

One thing you might want to watch for when you watch Robins. There are two distinct types of Robins and you have to watch them looking for food on the ground to see the difference. One type hops and one type runs. It's actually kind of cool when you notice it for the first time. I saw it after reading some scientific papers about it and now I always ask any Robin I see if they are a runner or hopper. :-)

[@emilybrackett9571]

What a lovely video!!! I always enjoy watching your videos. I learned a lot. Keep up the great work 😉.

[@Stormin_Norman]

Thanks so much for another fine video, I learn something new every episode... And I agree with you on the black bird looking like an American Robin...

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

You are very welcome. Thanks a lot for watching and for the nice comment.

[@SerineScenes]

your videos are really good and well put together. just wanted to thank you for the great videos. I enjoy them a lot and look forward to seeing more of them.

[@denisewolfe3168]

Love your videos!!!

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

Aww thanks. So glad you enjoy these. Back soon with more

[@organtunes]

As usual, this was a very informative & delightful video to watch. I ALWAYS learn so much from your videos. It would be interesting to listen to the songs of each of these various 'Robins' & compare them - are they similar or totally different. Hmmmm...I got this idea in my mind how wonderful it would be to take a 'birding' class as part of a high school curriculum. However, I'd insist that YOU be the teacher! (Well, I'm 72 years old so we old folks get some strange ideas!) Again, thanks for the effort you take to educate & entertain all of us! Blessings..... :)

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

Thanks a bunch! :) By the way from your KZbin thumbnail, I would never have guessed that you are 72 yrs old, way to go girl. You look wonderful! Oh, one more thing I think a birding class would be such a great thing.

[@nickashleysteffel8529]

Awesome ❗️😁

[@gsco82]

The American Robin and the Eurasian Blackbird both belong to the genus Turdus, thus the similarities in size and shape. The European Robin is a Redstart, a type of thrush. So European and American Robins are somewhat related in that they belong to the same family of songbirds.

[@Reneelwaring]

I live in York County, Pennsylvania. The Robins never came in this year. Used to be in the spring they would fly in together and you would see hundreds in one place. Never happened this year. In the fall they group together to fly south, never happened this year. About 6 years ago I found one in the back yard that was sick and blind with mucus around it's eyes. Something is going on and no one is saying anything about it. Where are the Robins? This year I have probably only seen 6 at the most all year.

[@rhondamagee7459]

Didn't know that, Leslie. The little Robin from over the big pond, is so pretty

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

I agree, the little robin sure is sweet looking

[@DannyStuart]

@@LesleytheBirdNerd I'm 3 years late to the party on this one - they are indeed very sweet looking, but they are boisterous little guys! As soon as we start gardening our resident Robin turns up and demands to know what we've uncovered for him - and he's more than happy to chase off any contenders for his worms! They're very cute though. Robins have a reputation of being so cocky that they will sit on the gardener's spade as he or she takes a break, and they really live up to it.

[@rezkid283]

I think they eat corn because I put out a mix of seeds below my feeder and a robin picked up a peice of corn lol

[@lettymatias2753]

Wonderful video Lesley; I love Robins. Hope you'll be back soon :)

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

Thanks, Letty

[@jonathanwalda811]

Thank you one of my favorite birds very interesting I thought they were very thrush like but didn't know that . The European Robin must be a very special bird to have so many other birds named after it ☺️

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

Glad you enjoyed it. Yes hey they must be

[@jerrymammoser1509]

Growing up, my dad would observe a Robin’s song and at times would tell me, That’s his “rain-song”, something precious to be handed down, I guess. And I noticed that when a front was coming in and there were singing Robins, the tune was definitely different and particular than its song on clear days. Anybody want to help me out? Is this so? Do Robins have a particularly different tune when weather is changing?

[@lm2017]

Great video! I thought that European Robins were thrushes as well. I learned a lot as always!

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

They were once classified as a member of the thrush family but now they are considered to be an old world flycatcher. :) Glad you enjoyed the video :)

[@lm2017]

Oh interesting, thanks for the info!

[@possiblyhuman3114]

I am in love with you after a few videos. I've always had a slight interest in birds but never as much as I do now since I started photography. It's amazing how photography has increased my senses and I notice so many birds and their differences and I'm even able to follow them by sound. I'm slowly distinguishing sounds too. How do I get nuthatches to eat from my hand. There are a few curious ones that live at Fenway park.

[@MichaelBillerbeck]

Haha, you made me laugh at 3:15 mins. Great video and again very informative. I really enjoyed watching it! Thanks!

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

Haha! I'm glad you found that part funny. It was fun making that part.

[@jasonhernandez619]

It is a bit incongruous when watching "Mary Poppins" -- it's supposed to be set in London, but during the "Medicine go down" song, you see an American robin.

[@rahimjoseph652]

nice vid. there are plenty blackbirds in my garden in. Catford, London lol

[@sergeidruchinin]

Спасибо огромное, Лесли! Было интересно посмотреть на американскую зарянку! Европейская зарянка знакома и очень любима!)))

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

Glad that you enjoyed it :)

[@american_warrior724]

I just realized something: Robins migrate for the winter- It dawned on me now that I never see them in the winter. Yesterday I saw a pair of Blue Jay's (we rarely see them here in St Louis area these days) and a Wood Pecker :)

[@Bacopa68]

They migrate to my part of coastal Texas for the winter. October and November are good months to see robins, but most of them are gone by late May.

[@mbhsug]

Well done. I've learned a lot. But who spoke so perfect German in your Video ;-) ? Greetings Manfred

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

Thanks Manfred :)

[@jimbolt5170]

Did anyone else notice that Hollywood messed up in Mary Poppins, when the robin landed on the windowsill to talk to Mary? Even though the story is English and set in England, they used an American Robin! It looked totally out of place. Yeah, it’s migratory, but England? :-)

[@Bacopa68]

I was watching a video from a KZbinr living in London filming birds in a canal and I saw a laughing gull. I was shocked. I thought I must be mistaken. Laughing gulls have solid black heads like terns, maybe it's a tern. But no there were herring gulls there too and the black headed birds were almost the same size as the other gulls. Turns out that that laughing gulls, a bird that is pretty much the bird that exemplifies the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean area, occasionally visits Europe and North Africa. What? How? You can't even find them in the Chesapeake. How are they in London?

[@ashleylunney987]

Thanks so much for making this video; it's a difference I'm very often reminded of. I'm from Ontario, and having been living in Europe for a couple years (pre-alpine Switzerland) - I definitely consider the blackbird to be the counterpart to the American robin. The little European robin is definitely cute, but also far more timid. As with Tom Evans below, so many British references to black birds made much more sense once I came to know the european version. I'll still pass on the four-and-twenty blackbird pie! I've also been interested in comparing the Blue Jay to the Eurasian Jay here - the eurasian jays sound even less elegant, and are perhaps even more forest-bound than the blue jay. We also have 'tit' instead of 'chickadees' - the tits tend to have fewer notes in their repertoire, and therefore don't say 'chickadee'... something I miss. In Europe we also have the song thrush, which keep a greater distance, I think also keeping to the woods - is there a counterpart to that in North America? I don't recall one from my childhood... Thanks again, I love your videos.

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

You are welcome! So glad that you enjoy these videos The song thrush seems to me like our Hermit Thrush or wood and Swainson's thrushes. The Hermit thrush has a most beautiful song, to my mind at least. The Swainson's thrush sounds really similar to the Hermit thrush, and the other thrushes all have incredible songs, that's just it with the thrush family, they know how to make some wonderful songs. Here is a video I captured a few years ago of the Hermit thrush singing kzbin.info/www/bejne/pmjUanyfmbpgnNE Here is a link to AllAboutBirds for the Wood thrush so you can hear their song if you would like. You will be able to find the other thrushes we have from there, too. :)

[@mjnyc8655]

This video makes me wonder about the American robin's competitive advantage in its color scheme.

[@tonewisemusic]

I like the American Robin's complex songs. I would say that's another thing that connects them with the Common Blackbird. kzbin.info/www/bejne/onile5trn652ac0

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

There is a similarity. Members of the thrush family sure can sing

[@thomashill6347]

Informative and not I don't see the reason But that is ok. I hear the Robins in my front yard most morning in Spring and some times in summer, Do like them But love the Blue Jays.

[@toddberg3892]

A thrush! Wonder if Michigan will change the state bird? That one song might need an update too: "When the red red thrush come rush rush rushin along!" (Poor Robin - not your fault.) Good history lesson! Also enjoyed the German names at 3:20 - ahem. Ha! Thanks again for the lessons. Oh, and keep an ice chopper handy... Seems you folks are always in the news these days breaking records! :^)

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

Winter sure is hanging on up here. So much snow. I guess that your snow is long gone by now?

[@toddberg3892]

The last of our snow in the woods finally melted a week ago. Just put up the hummingbird feeder (the ruby throats should be here any day now - even hand feed them sometimes.) Sorry to hear you are still in Winter mode - holds the migration back as well.... Hang in there!

[@LesleytheBirdNerd]

Glad to hear your snow is gone. I bet the hummingbirds are awesome to watch and hand feed. We don't get them in my area.

[@adamaj74]

Until you pointed it out, I wouldn't have made the connection between the Robin and Blackbird. Most people, especially early settlers from Europe, would have seen the red breast and immediately made the connection with their Robin. Makes sense. Most people are visual and color plays a huge role in that. They probably wouldn't have seen the red breast of our robin and immediately thought black, as in a black bird, lol. In other words most people aren't going to look as something red and think about black.

[@KnightPilot]

Unbelievable! I'm from England, and moved to Canada 11 years ago, and always wondered why there was a difference. And now it makes sense. I definitely see the Blackbird in America's Robin. I never would have made the comparison without this video, as blackbirds seemed perhaps "boring" compared to seeing a Robin back home. Certainly, even Magpies seemed more interesting than Blackbirds, over in England, perhaps given their intelligent behaviour; and that is despite Magpies being as common as Bluejays are in eastern Canada.

[@holydoveaquariusagespiritbeing]

Did you know?... When I became an adult, around 1987, there were 5 billion people in the world. Now there are over 8 billion people. I imagine almost an extra person for everyone, and that's true since I was born. 2 Africans jogging with 2 more Africans on a road in Africa. 2 librarians in England. 2 soldiers in China. 8 grandparents in Chicago. 2 children in Mexico. 2 dog-walkers in Boston. 2 cashiers in Israel. 200,000 people in a football stadium.

[@Emjay1306]

i see both in the robin, the colors of an european and body of a blackbird.

[@a-bird-lover]

Aren't European Robins actually chats? They just can't seem to get it right!

[@rahimjoseph652]

A Bird Lover yeah i think they are chats

[@a-bird-lover]

Rahim Joseph Yeah, I know. I used a question to make the sentence more complete-sounding.

[@drew-shourd]

Early settlers were, well 'early' evolved, i.e. knowledge, experience, etc. They called Native Americans 'Indians" for they thought they were in India...so they were not as bright as travelers today, whom are not as bright as travelers in another 300-400 years. I love your videos, I am blessed to have found them, thank you BiRdNeRd!!!x0x

[@gtgodbear6320]

I wish the American Robin was invasive they look like they have large breast meat. Especially compared to them European house sparrows. You have to shoot 40 to get enough meat to eat Half a Meal. And you'll probably burn off more calories cleaning them over eating them.

[@victornguyen-em6eq]

Yes

[@victornguyen-em6eq]

Ok

[@lm2017]

Great video! I thought that European Robins were thrushes as well. I learned a lot as always!