The question: "What's the difference between a male and a female American Robin?"
What I Learned:
First, American Robins should be called such because European Robins look completely different and aren't even of the same family. They both have an orangey/red breast, so someone decided to call them both Robins.
As you can see, the European Robin is a lot smaller and duller in color than the vibrant American Robin. Also, the European Robin's eggs are not that bright blue that we've learned to associate with the Robin in the states. They are a speckled brown, much like a Wren.
The American Robin, what we in the US think of when someone says 'Robin' has a larger size, more vibrant color, and creates those bright blue eggs.
American Robins are called "Turdus migratorius" (an unfortunate sounding name) which means "Thrush who Migrates" and they are located all over the United States and Canada. There are subspecies of Turdus migratorius, but the differences are too inconsequential to mention let alone see with the naked eye.
This is much like the female and male Robins. Unlike most birds (think Blue Jays or Cardinals, Peacocks, etc), the female Robin does not look much different than the male Robin. In general, the males have a brighter orange or red color on their breast, have a darker black on their wings and body, and have a circle of white encasing their eye. The females are just a bit duller in their breast and body feathers and their white around the eye doesn't usually go all the way around, like a male's. However, a female might have a very bright breast or a very deep black tone to her feathers. There really isn't any rhyme or reason to why a female might look like a male, it just happens. I'm sure there's some sort of link to their feed and their stress levels (etc) but I didn't find that one out yesterday.
I did want to learn about their call so that I could determine what was a Robin and what wasn't (at least in my backyard) but I forgot. Hopefully it will be something I return to in the future.
For now, I am left with the knowledge that most of the time I won't be able to tell a female Robin from a male Robin. However, I did also learn that though there aren't MORE albino Robins than other birds, they are more easily seen because Robins, as a bird, are so abundant where I live. So, I look forward to seeing an albino Robin one day.
This was very helpful. Many thank you's.
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