22-12-2016 MONTE CORONA, VALENCIA - EUROPEAN ROBIN (Erithacus rubecula)

Robins may look adorable, but you wouldn’t want to cross one. These territorial birds will defend their patch ruthlessly. Disputes are often settled by song and body language. If that fails things quickly get physical and fights to the death can occur.

History repeats itself  - Gardeners are familiar with tame robins following their fork to glean worms and other invertebrates unearthed by digging. It’s thought this echoes ancestral behaviour of robins following wild boar and now-extinct aurochs that once shared their woodland habitat.

 

Robins use unwary ants and millipedes as a kind of insecticide. Seized in the bird’s bill, the hapless invertebrate unleashes its defensive chemical weapons. The robin then rubs these compounds all over its feathers to get rid of parasites like mites and ticks.

 

Accepting human presence readily, our UK subspecies is tamer than its continental cousin. This variance in behaviour makes it easier to identify more reticent migrant visitors from Europe, Scandinavia and Russia.

 

The robin’s so-called ‘red breast’ is actually orange. But this wasn’t recognised as a named colour in English until the 16th century when fruit of the same name started to be imported – so red was as close as anyone could get. The same holds for redstarts and red kites.

 

Competitive male robins often have sing-offs where they duet loudly with each other. Hen robins also sing, although not quite as energetically as the boys and only in the run-up to the breeding season.