American Robin
Migration Update: April 8, 2008

Please Report
Your Sightings! >>

Today's Report Includes:


Can you find the robin?
Look closer: >>

The Migration: Maps and Highlights

First Seen
(map/sightings)

First Wave
(map/sightings)

First Song Heard
(map/sightings)

Highlights:
Cheerily, cheeriup, cheerio! It was no April Fools joke when robins sang this week at northern latitudes all the way up to 49 degrees:

  • "We heard a robin singing outside our classroom this morning during our meeting. One of the children in our class recognized it right away!" Ridegwood, NJ, April 1
  • "Heard robin today, late afternoon in full song. First time this spring in Avonport, Nova Scotia." LE Shaw School, April 1.

Waves of 200-300 robins are still being reported in some places, and many of you were surprised to see or hear robins despite cold or snow:

"I finally heard my first robin song this afternoon! We still have so much snow (2 feet on the ground in our yard in Norwich, VT), that I have only begun to see robins regularly in the neighborhood. It seemed so late, yet looking at my records from the past few years I see this year is identical to _________ and only 10 days later than the earliest in _________." (We thought you'd like to fill in the blanks with the information below!)

Records of First Robin Song:
04/03/08, 03/28/07, 03/24/06, 04/03/05

An observer from Whitewater, WI sums up: "I always see waves of male robins first. Then the males begin to sing and a few days after that I begin to see female robins." It happened April 3! What's happening where you live? Share the excitement by reporting to: Robin (OTHER observations)

Photo Study >>

"Robins landed
en-mass. Every lawn has a robin on it, defending its territory. No females yet."
Port Hope, ON 03/28/08

Often male and female birds of the same species look different. A quick look at robins might make you think that they all look the same, but is this really true?

Study this photograph showing a pair of robins. One is male and one is female. You decide whether the birds look the same >>
Make Connections: Got Worms? Please Report
Your Earthworms! >>

Here's what you're reporting this week about one of a robin's favorite foods:

  • "I saw my first large earthworm of the season, just before a robin swallowed it." East Amherst, NY, April 5
  • "Today (April 4) we spotted some earthworms outside during our field trip. It was a rainy day and many of the worms appeared to be not alive." Stafford Springs, CT fifth grader

An observer at Waterloo Elementary in Iowa summed it up: "The robins will welcome their arrival." But how do the robins find these morsels?

This Week's Map Questions Handout >>

Journal: How do Robins Find Worms? Explore: Dr. Heppner's Experiments >>

An ornithologist named Frank Heppner wanted to find out which senses robins used to find worms. He set up some experiments to investigate all the robins' senses. This is the equipment he used:

Pieces of dead earthworm
Living earthworms
Rotten eggs
Decaying meat
Rancid butter
Mercaptoacetic acid (which smells like a cross between sewer gas, rotten cabbage, a skunk, and a stinkbug)
A small drill
A tape recorder that was extremely sensitive at low frequencies

  • If you had the materials Frank Heppner used, how would you design experiments to prove which sense(s) robins use to find worms? Why do you think he used each of these materials?

Write your ideas in your Robin Journal. Then add to your entry after you read more about Dr. Heppner's experiments and conclusions. >>

Photo Wayne Kryduba
Investigate: Northern Outpost News Update your prediction log >>

How many Northern Observation Posts (NOPs) — the yellow stars on the robin maps — are still waiting to see or hear their first robins? See the latest news from observers at the end of the robins' migration trail:

  • See today's NOP comments to aid your predictions.
  • See a letter from the teacher at Innoko River School to answer: What scientific data are the students gathering for the sixth year?

Have Students at NOP in Shageluk, AK seen their first robin yet? >>
Links: More Robin Resources to Explore
  • Observe (Checklist): Spring Phenology of Robins >>
  • Listen: Play Name That Tune >>
  • Discover: Worm Hunt: Collecting and Observing Earthworms >>
  • Investigate: Disappearing Act: Escaping Predation >>
  • Identify: Exploring in the Field: Male or Female Robin? >>
  • Contribute: Report Your Robin Sightings >>
  • Imagine: A Day in the Life of a Migrating Robin >>


Photo Elizabeth Howard

Can you see two clues that tell you it's a cold day in the early spring? >>
More Robin Lessons and Teaching Ideas!

The Next American Robin Migration Update Will Be Posted on April 15, 2008.

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