23 Tuesday Jun 2026
Posted in birds
≈ Comments Off on A sweet young Robin
Is this not the sweetest little Robin you’ve ever seen?
I simply can’t walk past a juvenile Robin without stopping to say hello.
Though their feathers look nothing like those of adult Robins – no red breast to be seen, they already act like adults: confiding, curious, bobbing their heads and flicking up their tails.
And so, of course, I had to stop, pull out my camera, and take far too many photos while this sweet young Robin posed like a professional model.
31 Thursday Dec 2020
Posted in birds
≈ Comments Off on 366/366 Transition
I consider this my best photo of 2020, partly for technical reasons – it’s sharp, the bird is looking at me, the background and composition are pleasing, but also because I caught this gorgeous wee Robin in a ‘between’ state, as it transitions from juvenile to adult, its head still showing the mottled beige and browns of its chick feathers but the first of its adult red breast feathers already present. And so this photo also seems appropriate for New Year’s Eve, as we humans transition from one calendar year to the next.
27 Saturday Jun 2020
Tags
birding, birdwatching, bobbing robin, British birds, British robin, Erithacus rubecula, juvenile Robin, robin
As the song goes …
‘When the red, red robin comes bob, bob, bobbin’ along, along
There’ll be no more sobbin’ when he starts throbbin’ his old sweet song….’
~ Harry Woods, ‘When the red red robin comes bob bob bobbin’ along’, 1926
Woods was writing about an American Robin (Turdus migratorius), which is a very different bird from the British Robin (Erithacus rubecula), but the bobbing still applies. And this juvenile Robin, which is just moulting into its adult plumage, was bobbing very well for me during yesterday’s exercise walk.
23 Saturday May 2020
This juvenile Robin was hopping along the path in front of me yesterday, busily searching for snacks, staying a few hops ahead but not too concerned about the much larger ‘wildlife’ behind it.
Its mottled brown colouring helped to camouflage it while it was still in the nest and continues to protect it now that it’s out foraging on its own. It almost ‘disappeared’ completely when it eventually ducked into the bushes alongside the path, though I could still see its beady eye watching me.
Juvenile Robins don’t get their distinctive red breast feathers until they’re a few months old and undergo their first moult. By that time, hopefully, they’ll be ready to fight off or rapidly flee from the territorial disputes their adult colouring might prompt.
