EUROPEAN ROBIN

Erithacus rubecula


CLASSIFICATION

  • Order : Passeriformes
  • Family : Muscicapidae
  • Genus : Erithacus
  • Species : Rubecula

BINOMIAL NAME

  • Linnaeus, 1758

BIOMETRICS

  • Size: 14 cm
  • Wingspan : 20 to 22 cm
  • Weight : 16 to 22 g

LONGEVITY

15 years


DISTRIBUTION


VOCALISATION

The vocal emissions of the robin are typical. The most frequent call is a metallic “tic” of excitement, often repeated in staccato and expressing a form of anxiety. In the very excited bird, it can be emitted at a very fast rhythm. It is the call used by adults near the nest in case of danger for example. Another classic call consists of a short, high-pitched, penetrating “tsiih” that can be considered a contact call. The song is very characteristic. It is a sequence of whistled and rolled notes, of high pitch, like a soft and liquid babble, which seems to flow naturally along a continuous phrase. This species has the particularity to know a resumption of the song in autumn, song which will be used by the males in winter to defend a food territory. This song is considered softer than the spring song.


IUCN CONSERVATION STATUS


Partager


IDENTIFICATION

The House Robin is a small, plump bird with relatively short wings that barely reach the middle of the tail. The adult is easily recognizable by the orange color that covers the entire front of the body, forehead, lores, sides of the head, neck and breast. This large orange area is bordered by a light gray band that is not very visible on the top of the forehead and on the sides of the neck and chest. The rest of the underside is dirty white washed with russet on the flanks. The upper parts are of a brown shaded with olive, rather dark. The rump and the supra-caudals are of a slightly warmer brown. The remiges are hemmed with buff, which lightens a little the closed wing on which stand out the darker primary coverts. The eye is dark. The thin, short and straight bill is dark brown, with the base a little lighter. The legs are reddish or brownish according to the light, sometimes pinkish.

The juvenile has a silhouette similar to that of the adult, but a very different appearance. The orange color is absent. The whole body is brown, largely speckled with russet buff as it is the rule in the muscicapids. The future orange plastron nevertheless already shows because at this level the feathers are more reddish than elsewhere. Nevertheless, it will be necessary to wait for the postjuvenile moult to see the first orange feathers appear. On the closed wing a reddish bar formed by the points of the large covers thus coloured is clearly distinguished. This character will persist after the first moult and will allow the following year to know that we are dealing with a second year bird. Otherwise, the first weeks, the yellow mouth commissure is well visible.

HABITAT

The House Robin is primarily a forest bird, whether deciduous, evergreen or mixed, which is the optimal environment it frequents on its breeding grounds. But from there, it spills over into other favorable wooded environments such as riparian forests of streams, parks, hedgerows, etc.. In the bad season, it leaves the forest, especially the northern birds that are migratory, to gain more anthropized environments such as gardens in the countryside, but also in the city, the margins of agricultural areas provided with woody, scrubland and scrub in Mediterranean biome, etc. We can almost say that it can be everywhere where there are woody plants in the wintering area.

THREATS – protection

The House Robin is widespread throughout most of its range and not threatened. However, it is well known that in the southern Mediterranean, like many other migratory bird species, the species is heavily harvested by local people for culinary purposes, using nets or other means.

La Gallerie

Find all the walls

15 walls

Place

14-16 Penpoll Road,
London

Fresque

Hummingbird by Claire Ward Thornton

Par

Claire Ward-Thornton

Oiseau

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Place

Aknīste – Gārsene – Ausmas,
LV-5218 Gārsene,
Lettonie Zemgale

Fresque

Black storks

Par

Anda Lāce

Oiseau

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Place

Bruxelles Belgique

Fresque

Turtle Dove

Par

Aurore Vegas

Oiseau

European Turtle Dove

Place

Jarrestraße 20,
22303 Hamburg,
Allemagne

Fresque

COMMON KESTREL

Par

Hanadi Chawaf

Oiseau

Common Kestrel

Place

Lisbonne,
Portugal

Fresque

Vulture & Eagle

Par

Tatiana Saum

Oiseaux

Spanish Imperial Eagle, Cinereous Vulture.

Place

Kišpatićeva ul. 12,
10000,
Zagreb,
Croatie

Fresque

Common Kingfisher

Par

Chez 186

Oiseau

Common Kingfisher

Place

1 Boulevard de Dresde,
67000 Strasbourg,
France Grand Est

Fresque

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Par

Philippe Baudelocque

Oiseau

Eurasian Curlew

Place

Tabor,
1000 Ljubljana,
Slovénie

Fresque

Little Tern

Par

Škart

Oiseau

Little Tern

Place

Roodborststraat 18,
3083 WB Rotterdam,
Pays-Bas

Fresque

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Par

Marloes de Kiewit

Oiseau

European Robin

Place

35 Rue du Général Leclerc92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux

Fresque

Five birds by Mantra

Par

Mantra

Oiseaux

Common Kingfisher, Barn Swallow, European Goldfinch, Eurasian bullfinch, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker.

Place

Place Seigneur de Monlezun,
Sempesserre

Fresque

The Red Partridge

Par

Adèle Renault

Oiseau

Red-legged Partridge

Place

Ss Cyril & Methodius 44,
Skopje 1000,
Macédoine du Nord

Fresque

Egyptian Vulture

Par

Dorotej Neshovski

Oiseau

Egyptian Vulture

Place

2 Place des Marseillaises,
Marseille

Fresque

6 Mediterranean and American birds

Par

Fikos

Oiseaux

Eurasian Hoopoe, Western Black-eared Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush.

Place

299 Avenue de l’Adour,
Anglet

Fresque

11 migratory birds of the Basque coast

Par

MioSHe

Oiseau

Common crane

Place

84 Rue du Chemin Vert,
Boulogne-sur-Mer

Fresque

Common Kestrel

Par

Telmo Miel

Oiseau

Common Kestrel