Click for full size.
There were two Robins, both male, and yet, we still have a wealth of Dark-eyed Juncos! The Robins were being uncharacteristically shy, so not great shots.
© C. Ford.
Affinity
Art, Fun, & Nonsense.
Click for full size.
There were two Robins, both male, and yet, we still have a wealth of Dark-eyed Juncos! The Robins were being uncharacteristically shy, so not great shots.
© C. Ford.
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Are juncos and robins somehow mutually exclusive usually?
Usually, yes. Juncos are winter birds, when Spring arrives, they are usually gone, heading toward the arctic, to breed. We’re still winter here, lots of snow on the ground still, and very chill temps, so it’s rather early for the Robins to show, although we often have some Robins who overwinter. I didn’t see any over-winter Robins this winter, the cold was too extreme, so these are new arrivals. So, some early, some late. Or something.
I see. Few birds migrate here for the winter, so I automatically thought juncos would be there all the time, just maybe farther away from humans in the summer. We got back to winter this evening, there was some snowfall which has stayed on the ground for a few hours.
The juncos look like dark gray birds who have waded deep in white paint but the paint didn’t adhere to their feet. We don’t have any birds with plumage quite like that.
That is not a robin, that is clearly red blackbird! The only true robin is Erithacus rubecula /no true robin fallacy?/
Anyway, beautifull birds. Here the migratory thrushes arrived a week ago together with starlings. Other migratory birds are arriving just now. And all, migratory and permanent esidents alike, are looking for nesting and bragging places. I am being woken up at 5 a.m. by the “čihim-čihim” of sparrows on windowsill.
Charly
It’s what we call ’em in the North America, they’re robins, alright -- and yeah, I was in my teen years when I learned they weren’t real robins, but that’s the colloquial name.
I think it is a ‘no true robin’ fallacy, and it got even more confusing here: in Latvian, robin (North American) was sarkankrūtītis (“red-breast”). So when I learned about “real” robins, I thought they were sarkankrūtītis, but no -- it turns out the “real” robin is sarkanrīklītis (“red-throat”), while the “real” sarkankrūtītis is yet a third species of bird with red plumage in the region below its beak (actually, the svilpis of a few days ago -- therefore the bullfinch is also a robin!). Anyway.
These are lovely photos, the neutral/pale background really brings out the colouring!