Winter territory

During the spring and summer, robins’ pair up and defend a joint territory, chosen specifically for its nest site and the nearby availability of invertebrate food suitable for nestlings. Now, at the end of September, those pairings have broken down and each bird holds an individual winter territory which it will defend fiercely: robins have been known to fight to the death over territory.

An average breeding territory for a pair of robins is maybe a couple of acres but winter territories, which only have to support a single bird, are around half of this. The reserve, thickly wooded in places and surrounded by dedicated garden bird feeders, is ideal robin habitat but we wouldn’t like to guess how many robins call it home: a hundred perhaps? Does anybody know?

Robins, both male and female, sing all year round. It is assumed that this is because they are defending territory all year round but autumn and spring songs are distinctly different which suggests that a robin’s song serves more purposes during the breeding season than just the defence of its territory. The autumn song, which starts in late summer after the moult, is quieter, more subdued and melancholy in its tone. You can listen to it here:

European robin by Jacobo Ramil Millarengo (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) xeno-canto.org

Robins sing from a concealed perch right inside a bush or a tree. Even in the spring, when the song is at its loudest and most jaunty, it rarely choses an open site to sing from.

Header image by DKG