Glowing Robin

A photo taken by Nava Thompson of a Robin on Branch with Golden Leaves. N W Arkansas. The tree is a Dogwood in the fall and it was glowing in the... more

by Nava Thompson

Title

Glowing Robin

Artist

Nava Thompson

Medium

Photograph - Photography

Description

A photo taken by Nava Thompson of a Robin on Branch with Golden Leaves. N W Arkansas. The tree is a Dogwood in the fall and it was glowing in the early morning sunrise.
JuvenileThe nominate subspecies of the American Robin is 23 to 28 cm (9.1 to 11 in) long with a wingspan ranging from 31 to 41 cm (12 to 16 in), with similar size ranges across all races. The species averages about 77 g (2.7 oz) in weight, with males ranging from 72 to 94 g (2.5 to 3.3 oz) and females ranging from 59 to 91 g (2.1 to 3.2 oz).[12][13] Among standard measurements, the wing chord is 11.5 to 14.5 cm (4.5 to 5.7 in), the culmen is 1.8 to 2.2 cm (0.71 to 0.87 in) and the tarsus is 2.9 to 3.3 cm (1.1 to 1.3 in).......The head varies from jet black to gray, with white eye arcs and white supercilia........The throat is white with black streaks, and the belly and undertail coverts are white. The Robin has a brown back and a reddish-orange breast, varying from a rich red maroon to peachy orange......the bill is mainly yellow with a variably dark tip, the dusky area becoming more extensive in winter, and the legs and feet are brown.......The sexes are similar, but the female tends to be duller than the male, with a brown tint to the head, brown upperparts and less bright underparts. However, some birds cannot be safely sexed on plumage alone.......The juvenile is paler in color than the adult male and has dark spots on its breast,..... and whitish wing coverts.[15] First-year birds are not easily distinguishable from adults, but they tend to be duller, and a small percentage retains a few juvenile wing coverts or other feathers.....A male robin searching for food.This bird breeds throughout most of North America, from Alaska and Canada southward to northern Florida and Mexico.[16] While Robins occasionally overwinter in the northern part of the United States and southern Canada,[12] most migrate to winter south of Canada from Florida and the Gulf Coast to central Mexico, as well as along the Pacific Coast.[16] Most depart south by the end of August and begin to return north in February and March (exact dates vary with latitude and climate). Despite being depicted in the film Mary Poppins "feathering its nest" in London,[17] this species is actually a rare vagrant to western Europe, where the majority of records, more than 20, have been in Britain.[7] In autumn 2003, migration was displaced eastwards leading to massive movements through the eastern US, and presumably this is what led to no fewer than three American Robins being found in Britain, with two attempting to overwinter in 2003�2004,...... although one was taken by a Sparrowhawk........ The most recent sighting in Britain occurred in January 2007.......This species has also occurred as a vagrant to Greenland, Jamaica, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico and Belize. Vagrants to Europe, where identified to subspecies, are nominate T. m. migratorius, but the Greenland birds also included T. m. nigrideus, and some of the southern overshots may have been T. m. achrusterus.....The American Robin's breeding habitat is woodland and more open farmland and urban areas. It becomes less common as a breeder in the southernmost part of the Deep South of the United States, and there prefers large shade trees on lawns......Its winter habitat is similar but includes more open areas........] Conservation statusThe American Robin has an extensive range, estimated at 16 million square kilometers (6 million square miles), and a large population of about 320 million individuals. The species is not believed to approach the thresholds for the population decline criterion of the IUCN Red List (i.e., declining more than 30% in ten years or three generations), and is therefore evaluated as Least Concern......At one point, the bird was killed for its meat, but it is now protected throughout its range in the United States by the Migratory Bird Act........Birds in central California of the subspecies propinquus are considered to be still increasing their range, and this is probably the case elsewhere in the U.S.A.......DiseaseThe American Robin is a known reservoir (carrier) for West Nile virus. While crows and jays are often the first noticed deaths in an area with West Nile virus, the American Robin is suspected to be a key host, and holds a larger responsibility for the transmission of the virus to humans. This is because while crows and jays die quickly from the virus, the American Robin survives the virus longer, hence spreading it to more mosquitoes, which then transmit the virus to humans and other species.

Uploaded

July 19th, 2012