What Do American Robin Eat?
The American robin is a familiar sight on lawns across North America as it hops along searching for food. With its cheery song and bright red-orange breast, this songbird brings a touch of color to backyards and parks.
But what exactly does the American robin eat? The robin’s diet is quite diverse, adapting to seasonal changes and food availability. This bird has a varied palate, feeding on a mix of insects, fruits, and berries.
Robins are opportunistic feeders, taking advantage of any abundant food sources they can find throughout spring, summer, fall, and winter. They use a range of foraging techniques to find their food, from scanning the ground while walking to probing the soil with their strong beak.
Want to learn more about birds food and diet:
Favorite Foods
Some of the American robin’s favorite natural foods include:
| Food | Details |
|---|---|
| Earthworms: | Robins feed heavily on earthworms in the spring when the ground thaws. They can eat up to 14 feet of earthworms per day! |
| Berries: | Berries like raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, and mulberries provide important summer nutrition. |
| Fruits: | Robins eat fruits including cherries, apples, peaches, and citrus when ripe. |
| Insects: | Beetles, grubs, caterpillars, ants, grasshoppers, and crickets are eaten, providing protein. |
| Snails: | Snails are hammered open on hard surfaces. |
| Spider webs: | Spider webs are collected for the protein-rich spiders. |
In suburban areas, robins take advantage of lawn sprinkler systems, feeding on the earthworms and insects that get turned up. They also benefit from fruiting trees and shrubs in yards and gardens.
How Robins Gather Food?
Robins employ a variety of foraging techniques depending on the food source:
- On lawns, they walk along searching for earthworms and insects. They cock their heads to look and listen for prey.
- In soil, they probe into the ground searching for invertebrates. They use their strong beak to stab into the earth.
- For fruits and berries, they pluck them directly from bushes and trees.
- For shelled prey like snails and nuts, robins crack them open by smashing them against hard surfaces.
- They perch on branches and fence posts scanning for food below.
- Robins even collect spider webs to consume the protein-rich spider inside.
Winter Diet
Robins migrate south for the winter, but some may overwinter as far north as Canada if berry supplies are adequate. Their winter diet consists mainly of berries and fruits.
Some key winter foods include:
- Crabapples and other fruiting trees and shrubs
- Holly, juniper, sumac, and mistletoe berries
- Persimmons
- Conifers like hackberry, mountain ash, and Russian olive
Robins integrate into mixed flocks in winter, foraging together for any food sources they can find. They roost together at night to stay warm.
Baby Robin Diet
Baby robins are fed by their parents for 11-17 days until they leave the nest. The parents work diligently to provide enough food.
Nestlings are fed initially on a diet of soft invertebrates like earthworms, snails, grubs, and insects. These are easy for the young birds to digest.
As they grow, the nestlings are fed more variety including berries, fruits, and harder items. Both parents collect food in their beaks and return to the nest to feed the babies.
Frequently Asked Questions
01. Do robins eat mealworms?
Yes, robins readily eat mealworms, which are the larval form of the mealworm beetle. Dried mealworms are often fed to robins in backyard bird feeders.
02. Do robins eat birdseed?
Robins don’t typically eat standard bird seeds like millet or sunflower seeds. However, they will eat larger seeds, like peanuts or cracked corn kernels.
03. Do robins eat suet?
Yes, robins will eat suet, especially in winter when other foods are scarce. Suet provides high-energy fat and calories.
04. What fruit do robins eat?
Robins eat both wild and cultivated berries and fruits. Some favorites are cherries, raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, blueberries, mulberries, oranges, apples, peaches, and bananas.
05. Do robins eat bread?
Robins will readily eat bread crumbs and pieces of bread. However, bread provides little nutritional value and can harm robin populations if they fill up on bread rather than nutritious foods.
Final Thoughts
With its varied diet of invertebrates, fruits, and berries, the American robin is well-equipped to find nutrition across seasons. Robins play an important role in helping to control insect pests and disperse the seeds of berries and fruits.
By providing Robin-friendly landscaping with native plants, we can help support Robin populations and connect with nature right in our own backyards.
References:
- Cornell Lab of Ornithology. “American Robin.” All About Birds. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/overview
- The Spruce. “How Robins Find Food in Winter.” https://www.thespruce.com/what-do-robins-eat-4176021
- National Audubon Society. (n.d.). American Robin. https://www.audubon.org/field-guide/bird/american-robin
