American robin, the state bird of Wisconsin

How to recognize it

The American robin is a large thrush, about 8 to 11 inches long, weighing about 3 ounces. It has a gray back and a brick-red breast, with white streaks on the chin, small white marks around the eye and, usually, white tail corners. Males and females look alike, though males usually have a blacker head and slightly richer colors. Young robins have heavily spotted underparts and a mottled back.

The song is a run of rich, caroling phrases that rise and fall, often written as cheer-up, cheerily, and it is one of the first songs heard at dawn.

How it lives

Robins run and pause across open lawns, finding earthworms by sight. Insects and worms are their main food in early summer, but fruit, mostly wild berries, makes up perhaps 60 percent of the year-round diet. The female builds a grass cup set on a mud base and usually lays four sky-blue eggs, and a pair raises two, sometimes three, broods a season. Robins breed across most of North America wherever there are trees to nest in and mud for building.

Where to see one in Wisconsin

Robins are easy to find in Wisconsin yards, parks and farm country from spring through summer; the state’s first breeding bird atlas, from 1995 to 2000, found the robin the most frequently reported breeding species. In winter they are scarcer, but some stay and gather in flocks in fruiting trees.

Abundant, and an indicator

The American robin is a species of least concern, abundant and widespread, with Audubon estimating about 370 million birds. Because robins feed on lawns, they are vulnerable to pesticide poisoning and serve as an indicator of chemical pollution.

The state bird since 1949

In a 1926-27 vote by Wisconsin schoolchildren, the robin drew twice as many votes as any rival. The Legislature made it the state bird in 1949, in the same law that named the state flower and tree. Connecticut and Michigan have also chosen the robin.