American Robin Babies Afoot Transcript-230

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American Robin Babies Afoot

This is BirdNote!
[American Robin summer song]
We’ve been hearing this cheery song since spring, sometimes as early as 4AM. It’s the American Robin.
 [American Robin song]
The brick-red breast and brown back are a familiar sight, as the robin sings from the top of a tree or searches for worms on the lawn. But have you recently noticed a similar-sized bird with a boldly spotted breast, hopping along with the robins? Most likely this, too, is a robin — a juvenile bird.
Baby robins hatch blind, featherless, and helpless. They spend up to fifteen days in the nest gaining size, growing feathers, and preparing for the world outside the nest. By July, many young robins have left the nest, or fledged. But they aren’t ready to make it entirely on their own, so they follow their parents around while they learn to fend for themselves. At this time of year, you might see a parent robin yank a worm from the grass, hop over, and feed it to the juvenile.
The young birds aren’t singing yet, but the American Robin parents still find time to fill the air with their cheery song.
[American Robin song]
The BirdNote team is grateful to BirdNote's benefactors, who, through their goodwill and philanthropy, make it possible for people to connect with nature. Would you like to become a benefactor? Learn how at our website birdnote.org. I’m Mary McCann.
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Written by Frances Wood
Song of the American Robin provided by The Macaulay Library of Natural Sounds at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York. Recorded by W.L. Hershberger
Ambient track provided by Kessler Productions
Producer: John Kessler
Executive Producer: Chris Peterson
© 2009 Tune In to Nature.org    Revised for July 2009

ID#070605AMROKPLU           AMRO-03b-2009-07-14-MM-