Robins are a Stout, Rambling Whirlwind of a Bird
There are Robins in the park on most days, but occasionally, the park is alive with Robins; when this happens they are everywhere you look…
There are Robins in the park on most days, but occasionally, the park is alive with Robins; when this happens they are everywhere you look and they are noisy. Robins are a stout, rambling whirlwind of a bird. Yesterday was a Robin day. Hundreds of Robins arrived overnight and they adorned the trees like ornaments. Their calls and motion add a distinct energy, ambiance and feel to the park. They are, at once, common and extraordinary. Their ability to exploit diverse food sources is one of the reasons they are so abundant. This time of year they have transitioned to eating fruit. Now that I know Veeries can predict hurricanes I became more curious about Robins. This raised the question: how sophisticated are the food choices that robins make on a daily basis? The answer is much more sophisticated than we will ever know, but I thought I would try and learn something about their diet.
It was not hard to watch them eat. They were great flocks of them in the woods and out in the open fields. I walked back behind the baseball fields and quickly found a crabapple tree covered in fluttering Robins. I watched them swallow crabapples whole. This happens quickly, but I captured an image of a Robin in the act and the thing that stood out to me when I looked at the image is the fact that the apple appears to be about as big as it can be and still be swallowed in one piece. I also noticed the flaming orange tongue. Why would their tongue be bright orange? No one knows. Bird tongues are remarkably intricate and diverse and they are shaped by multiple interrelated factors.
As I got closer to the feeding robins I noticed that they were eating medium sized crabapples that had started to soften. The robins were pulling them off of the stems and some were being crushed in the process. This stands in contrast to many of the crabapples in the park, which have a firm texture and a solid attachment to their stem. This is when I realized that they have distinct preferences for certain trees. They have a lot of choices. There is a surprising diversity of crabapples in Ewing Park, they range from pea size to more than an inch in diameter. The largest fruit is too large for them to swallow and the smallest fruits tend to be hard, so it appears that they are selecting medium size fruit that has turned soft due to freezing temperatures.
It is hard to imagine surviving on a diet of apples, but somehow this works for them. During the winter they will forage just before nightfall and fill their expandable esophagus with fruit. This allows them to gradually process the apples overnight. I wonder if they dream about apples and the landscape that we have fashioned to perfectly suit them.