Name: American robin
Species: Turdus migratorius
Popular and common variants / subspecies / other names: European robin (Erithacus rubecula)
Geographic distribution: The American robin is found throughout North America, from as far north as Alaska and Canada and south through Florida and Mexico. Although some robins remain in southern Canada or the northern United States, most migrate in late summer or early fall to winter in the Gulf Coast area. They return north in late February or early March.
Environment: Robins are found in woodland, agricultural, and urban areas. The robin is comfortable in residential areas and with human company.
Physical description: The American robin is approximately 10.5 inches long with a wingspan averaging 13 inches, and weighs approximately 2.5 ounces. The back feathers are brown, the throat area is white with black specks, and the stomach and underside of the tail are also white. The robin’s chest area is red or reddish orange. The European robin resembles a sparrow or bluebird, with a brown back, a grayish front, and a reddish-orange patch beginning on its face and extending down over the top of its chest.
Interesting facts: American and European robins are not from the same family. American robins are thrushes of the Turdidae family that will flock and migrate. The smaller European robin (Erithacus rubecula) is from the Muscicapidae family and is related to the flycatcher instead of the thrush. The European robin is mostly nonmigratory, but the robins who live furthest north in Europe do move somewhat southward during the coldest part of the year.
The American robin is diurnal, but assembles in larger flock groups at night. The robin is one of the first birds to begin singing at dawn.
The robin is also one of first birds to begin laying eggs after its return from migration. A robin’s eggs are light blue in color, giving rise to the paint / dye hue known as robin’s egg blue.
Primarily a ground feeder, the robin hops along the ground after rainstorms or in freshly overturned soil, looking for worms and insects—one of the bird’s most familiar behaviors. In winter robins will gather in flocks to eat and spend a lot of time in trees, which makes them harder to spot than during spring and summer.
Myths, folklore, and cultural associations: Much of the lore associated with robins comes from Europe and has been transferred to the American robin. In European tradition, the robin is said to be associated with storms, and the Norse god of thunder, Thor. Much of the folklore involving the robin depicts it as a very compassionate bird. In the late sixteenth-century poem “Babes in the Wood,” a robin comes across the bodies of dead children and covers them with leaves, mosses, and flowers. Shakespeare also mentioned this bit of folklore earlier, in Cymbeline.
Several different legends describe the source of the robin’s red breast. One says that the red breast is the result of the robin being burnt by the heat of Hell when the bird descended there to bring back the gift of fire to humanity; an alternate myth states that it was scorched when bringing water to the souls in Purgatory. Yet another version has the robin in the stable where Christ was born, watching Mary and her child sleeping. When it saw that the fire was almost out it fanned the embers with its wings. When the flames revived, they singed the robin’s breast, and when the feathers grew back they were the color of flames. Another myth has the robin flying to Christ’s shoulder in order to sing and comfort him during the Crucifixion, and being stained by a falling drop of Christ’s blood. Alternately, while attempting to pull the crown of thorns off of Christ’s head the robin stained its own breast with the blood on the single thorn it succeeded in drawing out.
Despite the robin’s association with compassion, good luck, and blessing, if the bird flies into a house it is a sign that a death will soon take place there. If a robin is killed, accidentally or otherwise, ill fortune will come to the one who caused the bird’s death.
Perhaps the most popular piece of folklore associated with the robin is that its return presages the coming of spring. Your first sighting of a robin after a long winter is said to be very lucky. (Obviously, this bit of folklore isn’t as pertinent if you live in a southern region where the robin has a year-round presence.)
Although the robin is connected with the arrival of spring, it also has a strong association with winter and Christmas, thought to have developed because the postmen of Victorian England, whose visits increased in frequency at Christmas due to the volume of mail, wore red uniforms and were therefore addressed as “Robin.” In the pagan myth of the Oak King and the Holly King, archetypes of the light and dark halves of the year respectively, the Oak King triumphs over the Holly King at the winter solstice and thereby initiates the return of the light to the land. This myth is paralleled in the folk belief that a robin kills a wren at the winter solstice, and is crowned king of the waxing year. Folklore has Robin Redbreast as the husband of Jenny Wren, an interesting pairing considering the robin / wren battle.
The robin is the state bird of Connecticut, Michigan, and Wisconsin. It was also voted the Bird of Britain in the 1960s.
Omens and divinatory meaning: The robin is a welcome harbinger of spring. Likewise, sighting a robin can inform you of something new just around the corner, likely something anticipated or long awaited, or some kind of relief after a long period of work or privation. If you’ve been waiting to begin a new project, this may be the time to do it.
If you’ve been feeling at odds with a particular situation in your life, or if things in general have been feeling out of place or out of rhythm, try looking down. Robins hop along newly overturned soil to find food. Examine freshly disturbed situations within your life and seek the nuggets of wisdom, benefit, or positive results that may be there.
The robin also encourages you to step outside. Find cheer in the natural world, in gardens or wild places. Go for a walk in the rain, and splash in the puddles. Try adding a dash of bright red to your wardrobe, such as a silk scarf or a pair of socks to cheer you up.
The robin’s message can be summed up as: New beginnings are on the way. Watch for opportunity or the seeds of a new venture or project to develop. Joy, happiness, and cheer will be yours.
Associated energies: Cheer, new beginnings, celebration, cycles, compassion, good fortune
Associated season: Spring
Element associations: Air, fire
Color associations: Brown, red