Everyday in NH
American Robin
Turdus migratorius · Thrushes (Turdidae)
- Status
- Abundant breeder statewide; a variable number stay all winter
- Length
- 7.9–11.0 in
- Regions
- Coast · Merrimack · Lakes · The Whites · Conn. River
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What you notice first
A bird running across a lawn in short bursts, stopping dead, cocking its head, then stabbing — hunting worms by sight and the vibration underfoot.
Voice
A rich, caroling "cheerily, cheer-up, cheer-o," the classic dawn-chorus lead; a sharp "tut-tut-tut" alarm and a high, thin "seee" for hawks overhead.
Where & when
Lawns and fields in the breeding season; in winter, wandering flocks in fruiting trees — crabapple, sumac, winterberry, juniper — often deep in the woods, away from any lawn.
The first robin of spring is a nice story and mostly a myth. Robins are here all winter — just not on your lawn. They switch from worms to fruit, drop the territorial behaviour, and form nomadic flocks that follow the berry crop, sometimes hundreds strong, moving through the state without most people noticing.
What people are actually seeing in March is the return of that lawn-running, territory-holding behaviour as the ground thaws and the worms come up.
It is a thrush — same family as the Wood Thrush and the Bicknell’s — and it sings like one, that liquid rolling carol that opens the dawn chorus earlier than almost anything else. Learn the robin’s song well and the rest of the thrushes get easier.