Juvenile
The robin is a small, plump bird. Its black beak is short and thin. Males and females look identical, sporting a brown back, white belly and red breast, face and cheeks. In contrast, juveniles are speckled gold and brown, only developing the distinctive red plumage in adulthood.
Spotted (and Eastern) Towhee
Both the spotted and eastern towhee are birds that look like robins, with some key differences. If you're able to get a good look at the bird's eyes, check whether they're red. Red eyes are a distinctive feature of towhees that robins don't have.
Almost one year old. Robins are mature adults and ready to breed in the spring that follows the spring or summer they were born.
Males have rust-colored feathers on their chest, a yellow bill, a black head, and white outlines around their eyes. They also have gray wings and backs. Female robins look similar to males, but their colors are much duller and sometimes blend together, making identification difficult.
Young Robins initially have speckled plumage and no red breast, but as their post-juvenile moult progresses, the orange-red feathering of the breast starts to appear, as well as their pale belly.
A fledgling songbird is a “teenaged” baby robin, sparrow, starling, finch, etc. These babies often have a fleshy white, pink, or yellow “lip” around the edge of their beak. They may open their mouths wide and chirp to beg for food. Fledglings are older babies, so they already have most of their feathers.
Fledgling (13-14 days old or older).
This bird is fully feathered. Its wings and tail may be short, and it may not be a great flyer, but it can walk, hop, or flutter. It has left the nest, though its parents may be nearby, taking good care of it.
Baby robins jump from their nest when they are about 13 days old. It takes them another 10-15 days to become strong fliers and independent birds.
At night, Dad leads them to a roost tree with other dads and babies. The young robins learn how to be in a flock. At first, fledglings hide as much as they can because they are defenseless. Speckling helps hide them.
The simple answer to this question is YES! Robins can recognise humans. For the most part, robins recognise a human's traits, such as the way they move, walk and even facial features. For the most part, though, robins closely follow your schedule and movements, especially when food is involved.
The well-known phrase, 'When robins appear, loved ones are near', alludes to the belief that the robin is a messenger. When robins are seen, some people take comfort that loved ones are at peace, and many believe that their lost loved ones are visiting them.
Of course, scientists have one very accurate way of telling how old some individual birds are: they put a numbered band on one leg of birds they've trapped in special nets called mist nets, or on one leg of nestlings.
American Robins are gray-brown birds with warm orange underparts and dark heads. In flight, a white patch on the lower belly and under the tail can be conspicuous. Compared with males, females have paler heads that contrast less with the gray back.
The body is more or less feathered by 10 days. Flight feathers are the last to grow, and as the chicks fledge at 14 days, they will not be able to fly for another couple of days.
There is a tendency for nestling altricial birds to fledge before midday, most often within 6h of sunrise, and for all broodmates to fledge over about an hour (Perrins 1979; Lemel 1989; Nilsson 1990; Johnson et al.
Robins feed on insects (especially beetles) and worms. You might notice one following you about as your dig up your garden hoping to nab a few worms as you unearth them. Robins can also eat fruit, seeds, suet, crushed peanuts, sunflower hearts and raisins. They particularly enjoy mealworms.
In nature, the parent robins are constantly searching for food and feeding their babies during daylight hours. A baby robin should be fed as much as it can eat at least every half hour from sunrise to sunset.
An American Robin can produce three successful broods in one year. On average, though, only 40 percent of nests successfully produce young. Only 25 percent of those fledged young survive to November. From that point on, about half of the robins alive in any year will make it to the next.
Baby robins, or Juvenile Robins, are speckled brown and will not get the recognisable red breast until late summer, when the young is around 2-3 months old.
Fledglings are fully feathered, but still have a very short tail and short wing feathers. The plumage of the fledgling bird is much duller, drab, and ragged looking than the adult plumage. They are able to sit upright, perch, and can hop or even flutter in short bursts.
❖ If the baby bird is on the ground and doesn't move away as you approach, it needs to be rescued. Pick it up! Do NOT leave it on the ground where it can be attacked by cats, dogs, grackles (black birds) or ants.
Fledglings spend as long as 1–2 weeks on the ground as they learn to fly, so it's perfectly normal to see them hopping around. It might look like a fledgling is in trouble, but they're just learning! The best thing you can do is leave the healthy fledgling alone.