Monday, January 05, 2009
THE robin is the commonest bird recorded in Irish gardens, according to BirdWatch Ireland’s garden bird survey.
It’s also the most popular bird in Ireland, according to a poll carried out on RTÉ Radio some years ago. And I’ve noticed when I visit primary schools it is one of a tiny handful of Irish wild birds that all children can identify correctly.
Perhaps the only other species with equal brand recognition is the swan, and that isn’t a fair comparison because there are three species of swan in Ireland and only one species of robin.
I’m not quite sure why this is so because the robin, below, is not an obviously likeable bird. They are fiercely territorial and given to brawling. This is not uncommon among birds but what makes robins different is that their fights quite often end up in injury or even death. Studies have shown that in densely populated areas, 10% of adult robin deaths are the result of murder by other robins.
Another major cause of death is winter cold, particularly if it’s accompanied by snow. Robins like to feed on the ground so snow presents them with big problems.
They prefer to eat insects, spiders and other invertebrates. In fact recently they’ve been re-classified into the flycatcher family, though they were placed in the thrush family when I was learning my ornithology. In winter when invertebrates are scarce they will switch to seeds, berries or food put out on bird tables. But because of their antisocial nature they don’t like sharing space on the bird table with other robins or even other robin-sized species of bird.
Cats kill a lot of them and male sparrow hawks get a few. There is so much mortality among younger birds that the average life expectancy is only 1.1 years, though they are capable of reaching 12.
The original name of the bird was ‘redbreast’ but there was an English fashion in the 15th and 16th centuries of attaching human names to common birds and they became ‘Robin redbreast’. This fashion survives in Ireland (but not England) with the ‘Willie wagtail’. Eventually throughout the English speaking world the ‘redbreast’ was dropped and they just became robins. If the same thing happens to pied wagtails and they eventually become known as ‘Willies’ this will lead to considerable confusion.
The association with Christmas seems to date from the 19th century when the custom of sending Christmas cards first developed. Victorian postmen wore red waistcoats, the colour of British letter boxes. There was an association between the red breasted robin, the red breasted postman and the Christmas cards they brought.
I suspect the popularity of robins has a lot to do with their tameness and the way they follow people around, particularly gardeners. It’s interesting that robins are distributed all over Europe, plus a bit of Siberia and north Africa, but it’s only in Britain and Ireland that they display this behaviour.
In most of Europe they are shy forest birds. But they have been observed following wild boar around in the forests and picking up goodies as the pigs root. Because there are no wild pigs in modern Ireland they seem to have transferred this trait to humans.
Another possible explanation involves the fact that other European countries have different traditions when it comes to defining game birds and robins are hunted and eaten there.
But I suspect its popularity here is rock solid and no scientific revelations about their murderous habits will damage it in Ireland. It will even survive the disclosure that the bird that perches on the spade handle when you’re taking a rest from digging merelyregards you as a substitute pig.
dick.warner@examiner.ie
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