We have a crazy little robin redbreast at Lou Messugo: he sits on a bar across the windowsill and regularly, every minute or so, flies into the window, tapping it with his beak. I can hear the noise from the other end of the house. It’s like someone’s throwing pebbles at the window to get our attention. It seems quite deliberate and has been going on for a few days now. He also sings his heart out. Which is nice. I just don’t like him throwing himself at the window. Not only might he get hurt but it’s making a greasy smudgy mark on the glass (and there’s an awful lot of bird poo on the window sill too!)
I decided to see if I could find out why he was displaying this manic behaviour and put the question to the British Ornithological Society on their Facebook page. And this is what I found out. The most likely answer is that robins are fiercely territorial and he probably thinks his reflection is another bird, so he keeps on trying to attack his rival. I haven’t been able to get a good photo of this behaviour myself as I get too much glare from the glass, which is of course dirty too, but I’ll keep on trying.
Or maybe he’s just showing off, as Frances Hodgson Burnett says in one of my favourite books, The Secret Garden, “nothing in the world is quite as adorably lovely as a robin when he shows off – and they are nearly always doing it.”
We seem to have a few robins in the garden, so I don’t know how far their territory stretches but there’s obviously enough room for more than one here. This is also nice as we don’t have many other birds around except wood pigeons at this time of year. We also have robins in the house, in the form of Christmas cards. This one is my favourite.
The robin’s association with Christmas dates from the mid 19th century when according to Wikipedia, the fountain of all knowledge, they took on a “starring role” on Christmas cards. This is most likely because postmen in Victorian Britain wore red jackets and were nicknamed “Robins”, thus the robin on the Christmas card is representative of the postman delivering the card. Surely it’s also as simple as the fact that colourful, bright robins feature strongly in winter landscapes and look decorative on a card.
I love seeing the first robin of winter, it always feels christmassy to me, even if it has suicidal tendencies and poos all over my window sill!
What birds do you have in your garden? Have you come across this peculiar behaviour before?
photo credit (robin): Mrs Airwolfhound via photopin
Wow, what interesting behaviour. I love robins, they are my favourite bird. Lovely to find out some more about their history
I have a real thing for robins. I love that photographed, gorgeous!
No sadly not a robin in sight here Phoebe but we do have several pairs of brightly coloured lorikeets which add a lovely dash of colour around here!! Have you tried sticking the photo of the robin inside the window looking out to see if you can stop the aberrant behaviour and keep the windows clean?! Maybe Father Christmas will bring you a window cleaning voucher this year – ho ho ho ?!
Have a great Christmas
Wren x
Robins are so lovely and so associated with Christmas although I seem to see them a lot more than I used to, at all times of year. We have a huge eagle type bird that sweeps above our house, think it’s called a Red Kite… a bit scary though as we let our rabbit run around and I’ve heard the bird could possibly take him!
At least he’s not in a cage, putting all heaven in a rage. Presumably in Blake’s time they were often caged?
I have two cats so not birds in our garden… I think they are all scared of the kitties
They are so pretty it’s hard not to like them.
Nor was I till I started researching christmas cards.
That’s a nice thing to say Sara.
Good to hear my robin’s not the only nutter then!
How interesting that in Austria/Germany the robin has a different symbolism. Thanks for commenting Andrea!
We get a lot of pigeons too!
what a nice idea from your grandad!
That’s nice that you get your annual visitor Sarah
cute aren’t they!
Just had a read of your robin post Kate…I toyed with the idea of bringing round robins into this post but couldn’t find the right way to do it!
Oh no Rachel, dangerous stuff photography!! 😮
I was fascinated to find that out too.
We have a friendly robin that visits our garden daily – something magical about them!
Ooh – interesting – I wasn’t aware of the history with the postmen!
I love robins – we say it’s my gran visiting us 🙂 I’ve thankfully never had a kamikaze one though!
We have a cheeky robin too! I’ve not spotted him this winter actually, but last year he’d be pecking on the window whenever one of us was in the kitchen..cheeky little cutie!
must be interesting and nice to watch your little robin, hopefully he will become more tidy in future and will not bang into your window any longer 😉 in Austria or Germany the robin does not stand as symbol for the Christmas season, rather for spring and the breeding season when robins can get very loud – as much as 100 decibel!!!
We seem to attract pigeons and that’s about it, I can only assume as we just have grass no trees or bushes its a shame.
I adore Robins and my Grandad always told be that they were messengers for Father Christmas
What a lovely photo, yes we too have a visiting Robin we have been in our home 5 years and he has returned every winter xx
I love this time of the year as Robins are featured on so many christmas cards.
You do indeed 🙂
I love Robins! We have several in our garden and they are very friendly. I have just blogged about a different sort of robin 😉
The photo is amazing, I have only seen one little Robin this year and my attempt to get a photo almost ended with me flat on my face by mis-judging a step x
Very feisty Sophie!! 😮
You learn a lot through blogging, hey Rosie! Thanks for hosting Animal Tales
I didn’t know they were territorial either till I asked about this behaviour, but then I don’t know much about birds in general.
What an interesting post about Robins and why they were used in Christmas cards 🙂 Love the photo too! #animaltales
No Betty, I didn’t take the lovely photo, the credit is at the bottom of the post. I agree though it’s a gorgeous shot and I wish I had.
Cheeky Catherine, you know full well what my name is!
What a gorgeous looking little fella! and feisty.
I knew robins were territorial and have heard of them attacking their reflections. I did not know about Victorian postmen being called robins and I just assumed that we saw robins on Christmas cards as they became more visible once the leaves have fallen from the trees.
Many thanks for joining in with Animal Tales 🙂
What a great post. i hadn’t realised they were territorial! that will explain why we only have the one in our garden!
That photo of the robin is fantastic — did you take it yourself?
I don’t really notice birds around here that much, I’m afraid.
Yes we have a robin in our tiny paved garden. We put food out for any hungry birds but the mice seem to eat most of it. I think robins are my favourites on Christmas cards too. Oh and merry Christmas to you lou