Page 40 - NT Birds of a Feather
P. 40
Robin
The European robin is one of the best-known robins and it can be spotted not only in Europe but in parts of Siberia and north Africa too. They are small brown birds with a large head, a round body, a bright orange-red area on their face and breast and a white belly.
Robins can have up to four lots of chicks per year and adult robins are such good parents that they have been known to look after the chicks of other birds! Young robins are brown with golden-brown spots, but adult males and females look very similar.
European robins live in woodlands and gardens and, except for in a few countries where the birds move to the Mediterranean for the winter, you can see them all year round.
In the UK, the name ‘robin’ comes from the time when human names were given to animals. The original English name for the European robin was ‘robin redbreast’ but this was shortened to just ‘robin’ over time.
