It’s been fun watching the American Robin working through its obsessive-compulsive disorder with multiple trips per hour to the birdbath. But what I’d failed to realize was that there were two American Robins hitting the bath. Which I guess I should have been able to figure out, it being the breeding season and all, but for whatever reason it just never occurred to me.
Until yesterday, when a series of shots (including these two, by kryptonkay) made it obvious:
Nothing beats a nice comparison shot for educating one about the differences between two birds. Looking at these two, it’s hard to understand how I failed to recognize what I’d been seeing. But I guess that’s how my brain likes to work (when I let it): it just makes an instant ID (“American Robin”), and doesn’t bother actually looking at the bird in question. But having been confronted by these images, I dug out my Sibley guide and checked out the gender differences between the male and female robin, and sure enough, that’s clearly both halves of the happy couple sharing the bath, with the male on the left in the first image and on the right in the second.
So now, armed with my newfound ability to practice gender discrimination, I’ve gone through the photos from today and plucked out a few of my favorites of that classy gal, Mrs. Robin. Here are images by maraluna, kryptonkay, and noho_bird_club:
this couple we’re so cute and I saw the mate flying around while the other was in the bath so I knew he was gonna land. I waited and sure enough the two were bathing. I could of got some better shots but I was at my limit and by the time I deleated some shots they were gone. Other watchers got shots of just the one and I was hoping more of them got the couple together. Oh well there’s always another day.:)