Unraveling the winter, spring habits of Michigan robins
The arrival of robins is a sure sign that spring is on its way in Michigan, right? Yes and no.
It's a little complicated, according to Andrew Farnsworth, a visiting scientist at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology in Ithaca, New York.
Some Michigan breeding robins spend their winters in the southern United States, from east Texas to Florida, and return to the state from February through March.
Other Michigan robins live here year-round, especially if they have an abundant supply of food or their territory is easy to defend, Farnsworth told the Free Press in an email.
Still, other breeding robins are actually from the boreal regions of Canada that winter in Michigan. They arrive in late fall and begin their return north in February and March.
"So it appears that American robins are present all year, even though different populations are present at different times," Farnsworth said.
What's also not known is how many of the Michigan breeding robins spend their winters in the south, and how many stick around.
"This is complicated in Michigan because of the late arrivals of wintering robins that breed farther north and look similar enough to the casual observer to be challenging to identify by sight," Farnsworth said.
American robins, the state of Michigan's official bird, are one of the larger songbirds and are a part of the thrush family, which also includes the Eastern Bluebird and the Western Bluebird.
Both types of Michigan robins are known by their scientific name, Turdus migratorius. There are two different subspecies that might pass through Michigan regularly, migratorius and nigrideus. Migratorius has a large breeding range, and members of its population breed as far northwest as Alaska and south and east into portions of the United States. Nigrideus is a northeast North America breeder that could winter in the Great Lakes area also. This latter subspecies tends to be much darker and bolder in color, Farnsworth said.
Contact Jennifer Dixon: jbdixon@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Are robins a sign of spring in Michigan? Experts say it's complicated.
