The American Robin (Turdus migratorius) is a migratory songbird of the thrush family. It is basically grayish in color, except for an orange patch on the chest; the similarity between this coloring and that of the smaller and unrelated European Robin (Erithacus rubecula) led to its common name.

During the breeding season, the adult males grow distinctive black feathers on their heads; after the breeding season they lose this eye-catching plumage.

This bird breeds throughout Canada and the United States. While Robins occasionally overwinter in the northern part of the United States and southern Canada, most winter in the southern parts of the breeding range and beyond, from the southern USA to Guatemala. Most depart south by the end of August and begin to return north in March. (Exact dates vary with latitude and climate, of course.)

This species is a very rare vagrant to western Europe. In autumn 2003, migration was displaced eastwards leading to massive movements through the eastern USA. This presumably led to no less than three American robins being found in Great Britain, of which two were overwintering as of January 2004.

As with many migratory birds, the males return to the summer breeding grounds before the females and compete with each other for nesting sites. The females then select mates based on the males' songs and the desirability of the nests they have built. Three or four blue eggs are laid in a lined cup nest.

The habitat is all sorts of woodland and more open farmland and urban areas. Food is the typical thrush mixture of insects, worms and berries. Robins are frequently seen running across lawns, picking up earthworms by sight.

The most familiar call of this bird is the cheerily carol song.

This is the state bird of Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin.

Birds poisoning their young

Mr. Holmes, in his "Account of the United States of America," relates that some of the birds of North America are remarkable for poisoning their young; but this is only done if they are encaged or confined. The robin is one of the birds thus noticed. If the young be taken, and placed in a cage where the parent birds can discover them, they will attend upon and feed them for a season; but after the lapse of a few days, or when the young are fledged, the old ones appear very uneasy, and endeavour to discover some way by which they may escape. If, however, they perceive that there is no hope of accomplishing their purpose, they procure for them a sort of berry, which is an infallible poison; apparently disdaining the thought that their offspring should be slaves!