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Turdus migratorius
The American Robin is a migratory songbird of the thrush family. It is named after the European Robin because of its reddish-orange breast, though the two species are not closely related, with the European robin belonging to the flycatcher family. The American Robin is widely distributed throughout North America, wintering south of Canada from Florida to central Mexico and along the Pacific Coast. The American Robin is active mostly during the day and assembles in large flocks at night. Its diet consists of invertebrates (such as beetle grubs and caterpillars), fruits and berries. It is one of the earliest bird species to lay eggs, beginning to breed shortly after returning to its summer range from its winter range. Its nest consists of long coarse grass, twigs, paper, and feathers, and is smeared with mud and often cushioned with grass or other soft materials. It is among the first birds to sing at dawn, and its song consists of several discrete units that are repeated. The adult robin is preyed upon by hawks, cats and larger snakes, but when feeding in flocks, it can be vigilant and watch other birds for reactions to predators. Brown-headed Cowbirds lay eggs in robin nests (see brood parasite), but robins usually reject the cowbird eggs.
Spotted on Jan 25, 2012
Submitted on Jan 25, 2012
19 Comments
Thanks Antonio!
Ursus horribilis (lat)
Urso horrível (pt)
that would be funny:)
in my time of school we dont learned latin, but my parents learned and when i was kid the mess was in latin,booooring:)nobody understand nothing,for me now it's good:) and when you want a tip for any latin name your welcome
Not that I am aware, & the latin classifications are so well embedded I doubt there would ever be a reason to change. I wish I had learned latin at school, it must be wonderful to understand all of the very descriptive names of the different species - some i find very funny, like the "horrible" grizzly bear Ursus horribilis! I can almost imagine the discussion around naming that species!
Even the catholic curch doesn't uset any more in the public cerimonies,so i think the reasons for the cientific use must be of other order
First is a neutral language,imagine the discussion among the other language nationalisms if,(for example)the english was choosen,because is the most spoken(spreaded it's better) language in the world:)
second, like this is a kind of code that permit to id exactly the species,even if you dont know what it mean,for that you have the common name in eacth country
this what i think,in a common person point of vue,i dont have scientific formation for this kind of discussion:)
do you know if there are new ideas for a scientific classification whith other forms,codes,or other tipe of language?
It is interesting Antonio! I find it fascinating that science still uses Latin to describe things when it is no longer a language spoken for any other purpose - except for the Catholic Church! Maybe that is the point - everyone is disadvantaged to the same extent except for maybe the Italian, Spanish & Portuguese speaking nations!
for example this robin is:
-Turdus Migratorius (in latin)
-Tordo Migratório (in portuguese)
very similar,i have a niece,that when she was 8 year old,she knowed more than 20 birds by commun name and latin name(she came whith me some times, when i began to observ birds 14 years ago)because it's easy,many of the words in latin make sense in portuguese ,even for a young girl
I hadn't thought of that! It makes sense.
Me to,and to a portuguese is relativly easy to understand the cientific latin names,because you are a latin lungage,and the most part of the names have a correspondent name in portuguese, what make easy to me to see what was the intention of the person thet put the name,colour,forme,singing,etc...
Thanks Antonio! I find the stories behind the naming of species very interesting!
Beautiful bird,nice spotting Karen,every bird that had the orange chest was a robin,simple times those of the european"discovers".The British where the firsts to make a cientific field guide of birds in Portugal,great bird lovers:-)
Yes Emma, I think the British colonizers created "robins" all over the World! :)
Interesting,
Karen though , European and Indian robin belong to the family of Flycatchers. American belongs to the Thrush family and I read that the Australian Robin belongs to the family of crows and bee eaters which is Corvids i believe?
Thanks Sachin! Very different to the English robin too! I think wherever the British ventured in colonial days, they named a red-breasted bird for the much loved English robin!
Nice spotting, very differ from Indian Robin
Thank you!
Great capture!
Thanks Ismael!
Beautiful!