Excuse me. When do I get my red breast?  Said the robin to the chaffinch!

You will see that in the video there are some photographs of robins that do not have the familiar red breast of adult robins. They look almost sparrow or dunnock-like with their speckled brown breasts, which actually makes good camouflage as they hide in the undergrowth.  The red feathers will come in the late July or August as they moult.

Excuse me. When do I get my red breast?!

The red breast is used for display purposes by robins that have a territory to defend. They intimidate the intruder with a display and drive it away. If it does n’t go the defender will fly and land much closer to the intruder and puff up its red breast, its head arched backwards stretching to expose the maximum area of red breast. It will posture and move its breast from side to side rather slowly and make its crown feathers erect. If this exhibition does not have any affect, blows may be exchanged.

No red fighting badge!

The young fledgling robins have no territory to defend and a red breast would hinder their inexperienced lives and chances of survival. By early autumn, the juveniles will have their red fighting badges and they will fight for a territory. They are more likely to fight than undertake the posturing display that adults perform. This will come with age….. better to display than fight as you get older and wiser! Both males and female will fight for and defend territories. I have often watched this display in my garden.

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Baby birds and garden bird watching

I have had several phone calls about baby birds…. here is the RSPB advice…

If like me you enjoy watching birds and wildlife in your garden do check out the BTO Garden Bird Watch Scheme… you will find it very interesting and all you do is watch the wildlife and make a note of it!

Garden BirdWatch is all about getting involved and making a difference by collecting simple information on the birds and other wildlife using your garden. This information enables researchers at the BTO to monitor the changing fortunes of garden wildlife.

The project is funded by its participants, through an annual subscription of £17.00.

Join today and receive a free copy of ‘Garden Birds & Wildlife (cover price £14.99).Which I can thoroughly recommend!

You’ll also receive four copies of Bird Table (our quarterly magazine), be able to access GBW Online (your very own web-based notebook for recording your garden wildlife) and get expert advice from the BTO to help you identify, understand and look after the wildlife in your garden.

Thanks to Roy & Marie for the juvenile robin photos. They have created a great website and photos