Christmas robins: What makes them so special?

Nature Notes | Bob Jarman explores the life of the robin.

What is it about the robin that makes it our Christmas bird, even the nation’s favourite bird?

There is hardly a corner of the world where homesick British migrants in the 18th and 19th centuries have not managed to find a red-brested bird which they could call a “robin”. Every year I receive a Christmas card with a picture of an American robin, a member of the thrush family, closely related to our blackbird.

The robin’s red breast is its most obvious feature. Our European robin is quite literally in a class of its own! Its scientific name is Erithacus rubecula and it is the only bird in the genus Erithacus. Our robins are mostly resident, although some winter to France or Spain. However, in much of north and central Europe they are summer visitors that migrate (often through the British Isles) to spend the winter in southern Europe, mainly in Spain, Portugal and North Africa..

At Holme Bird Observatory on the Norfolk coast a robin ringed on Öland, Sweden, in early October, was recaught at Holme eight days later, while one ringed at Holme in April was recaught near the river Elbe in Germany a few days later. A robin ringed at Wicken Fen was killed by a cat in Kalmar, Sweden, a year later.

More recently, two robins ringed at Wicken Fen were much more sedentary and were recaught at the fen five and six years later.

I was once told by a top birdwatcher on the Norfolk coast that you could tell migrant European robins by their more yellowish/orange breast patch. I’ve looked hard at obvious migrants in north Norfolk but can see no difference. Robins on the Canary Isles however are different; they have a deeper red breast with a darker blue/grey border, and whiter underparts.

Most of our neighbourhood robins are locals! Female robins often migrate from late autumn, but the males are residents and begin singing in autumn to establish breeding territories for the following spring.

Some female robins also hold individual territories and sing. Female song is uncommon in birds and the song of female robins is indistinguishable from that of the males, and they also have identical plumage.

After mid-December, the female robins leave their own territories and pair up with the males, and once a pair bond is formed the females stop singing.

I’ve recently been reading The Life of the Robin by David Lack, formerly of Magdalene College, Cambridge, that was first published in 1943 and which is still as readable and informative now as it was then.

David says: “There are no other British birds which sing as regularly in autumn as the robin.”

My local robins have been singing since mid-September but, according to David, in late December around Christmas there is a marked revival of male song. The song is all about establishing a breeding territory; without a territory robins cannot attract an unpaired female and breed.

Fighting to defend a territory can even result in one robin killing another but bluff fighting is more usual. Males can be polygamous and have more than one female mate.

I was once birdwatching on the shingle bank at Cley-next-the Sea in north Norfolk watching an influx of birds flying in from over the North Sea on their southward autumn migration. Most were thrushes but there were also lots of individual robins. Many were very tired after an overnight flight across the North Sea and made landfall on the shingle beach only to be harried by hungry gulls. As I was looking through my binoculars an exhausted robin landed on my binoculars, hopped onto my shoulder, pecked at my ear (no food there!) then flew off into the dunes to feed!

Why are robins associated with Christmas? It is said the robin’s breast was singed red by embers from the brazier in the stable as it dropped twigs into the fire or fanned the flames to keep baby Jesus warm. But the association of robins with Christmas is most probably the match of its red breast with the red livery of the postmen (nicknamed robins or redbreasts) that began delivering a universal postal service, including Christmas cards, in the 1860s.

For me though it is the robin’s song which is one of the “forever” sounds of Christmas.