Obese Robin? In November? In Boston, Mass., USA?

[bgranat]

I had a movie, but the bird was too far away for it to be useful.

What I saw:

- Overall size of a chicken
- Slate gray body, long tail, wings had to be 8 inches extended (he was taking a bath for a while, so it was clear how large his wings were)
- Small gray head except for white stripe around eyes, squared off, not curved
- Small yellow beak, with some white splashes on neck
- Dull red breast, bordered at wing junction by a narrow stripe of white
- Looked like an obese robin, right down to the markings around the eyes
- The bird was all stomach!!
- Legs had to be 5-6 inches long

What is this mystery bird? It was four times the size of any robin I've ever seen.

Thanks!

Btw, the bird was in a tree and I was observing from the second floor inside my apartment.

Bonnie Granat

[AndyB]

Hi Bonnie, your bird certainly sounds like a robin. They can sometimes look pretty fat depending on how they're perched. There are about 150 photos in our galleries and you can see how their shape varies with posture. Here's a link to the photos. (http://www.surfbirds.com/cgi-bin/gallery/search2.cgi?species=american+robin)
:smile:
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[bgranat]

Yup -- that's him, all right. But I'm now very confused. All the robins I've seen around here in the Spring are one-quarter the size of this bird. Was I seeing juveniles before? Are adult robins the size of a small chicken -- roughly the size of a football (American football)?

The size difference is just remarkable to me. I am not imagining it. The birds I've seen before were the size of cardinals or bluejays, or perhaps a tad larger, but not at all like this huge bird, which at first sight -- with the flash of red -- I though might be a hawk. (There's a few of them who hang around Cambridge, where I am located. Not sure what kind of hawks, but they're local celebrities.)

Thanks, LA,

Bonnie

P.S. It's also very cold outside; I thought these guys went south, so what's he doing hanging around in 35-degree F. weather?

[AndyB]

Hi Bonnie, I often find that thrushes (like robins) look fatter in the winter/cover temperatures - they often have their plumage fluffed up. They do winter as far north as you are. Here's Cornell's page about robins with a range map (http://www.birds.cornell.edu/AllAboutBirds/BirdGuide/American_Robin_dtl.html).

Best, Andy
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[bgranat]

Andy,

Thanks so much!

Now, please help me understand why spotting a robin supposedly means Spring has come? That makes no sense at all if it winters in the continental United States with the exception of what looks like northern Maine and areas along the midwestern Canadian border.

The robin has always (in my experience) been a symbol of Spring -- but why??

Bonnie, who still finds it hard to believe that huge bird on 5-inch legs was really a robin

[bgranat]

Andy,

OK, I read that page now (hadn't read it before posting my last reply), so I know that they're around all year here, but the question I have now is related to the size of the bird, which I haven't seen addressed. I've seen robins on the ground and they were tiny compared to this "monster" of a bird, which, as I said, had a body the size of a chicken -- or a football. It's impossible to judge size from the pictures unless there's something to compare it to. I read the measurements, and they seem to match, but if all robins are this large, what was that small red-breasted bird I've seen for years that was so much smaller than the "monster" robin I saw yesterday?

I was about 15 feet from him, on the same elevation (second floor), and I'm telling you he was huge!! An anomaly? Is there a large size variation within the species?

Bonnie

[AndyB]

Hi Bonnie, I guess there can be a size difference that might seem bigger than it is. Often posture can influence how big a bird looks.

In terms of the spring question, usually that's when people notice them - the birds are at their most colorful and often singing. I'm sure someone with some ornithological history can give you a better answer.
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