Who Really Killed Cock Robin?
Facts in Chapter 8: Who Really Did Kill Cock Robin?
p. 147: The male robin sings his dawn song
Listen to the robin's dawn song.
p. 148: I know she's the same bird because she's the kooky nest builder.
This is a good observation and provides some supporting evidence, but it isn't really conclusive. Babies that grew up in unusual places —in a bucket, on a rake, or in a hat—sometimes look for similar places when they themselves nest. Only being banded or otherwise permanently marked would PROVE that this was the same female, but there was at least some good evidence that she was.
p. 150: Saddle approaches Mary Alice for food even after finding natural foster parents.
This is very realistic. Robins continue to beg from a human foster parent sometimes for a few weeks after fledging, even after they've joined wild robins.
p. 151: Put your hand around him and hold his wings firmly to his sides. Then turn him on his back and stroke his belly. That will hypnotize him so I can put on the band.
Stroking the belly isn't necessary, but holding any bird on its back really does immobilize it. This is probably because a bird's sensitive inner ear, where its sense of balance is, simply cannot deal with being upside down. The bird is not in a true hypnotic state, but usually cannot move to right itself.
p. 151: Saddle would stay probably until August, when his foster parents were done with the breeding season. Their feelings about territory would then pass away and they would move around town. Finally they would gather with other robins in the fields and start south.
This is what happens with robins in most places.
p. 158: Tony had seen parasites leaving Cock Robin's body. They read a report from the Department of Agriculture that Savannah sparrows in Florida had died from poisoning, and the parasites on them had migrated to thrushes and killed them.
Virtually all wild birds have a few lice and/or mites on them. When birds are healthy they preen, keeping these parasite numbers under control. But when birds are sick, the lice and mites multiply rapidly. The moment a bird dies, its body temperature drops, and the lice and mites instantly "jump ship," searching for a suitable living host. Some of these parasites are found only on one specific species, and couldn't go from a Savannah sparrow to a robin, but some species are more generalists. These would be the ones that would move to thrushes.
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