I was born in the alpine mountains of eastern tennessee, and had the last remaining cherokee indian in the area that was a native if a once great tribe.He taught me to hunt and fish, and he would go thru the woods like a ghost.He said when times were hard back in the day, his people would eat robins, which he said were delicious.Thanks again for the video.
If you live in an area with both Robins and Starlings, it is interesting to note their hunting styles on lawns. Robins use the senses noted to find food selectively, often moving some distance between targets. In contrast, Starlings plod along, continuously probing the grass with their beaks until they find something. Differing methods that both work well.
Ah, but Common Starlings are specialist predators on turf dwelling insect larvae such as wire worms and Japanese Beetle grubs, while American Robins are specialist earthworm predators when foraging on lawns and golf courses. Earthworms respond immediately to a Starling's "probe and open your bill" hunting technique by fleeing sideways or retreating further below the surface in their burrows, where a Starling can't reach them. Wire worms and "white grubs" can't do this. The reason why earthworms erupt from the soil when a bait collector drives a pole or stake into the ground, then rubs this with a rough or serrated object is that the low frequency vibrations thus generated trigger the earthworms flight response to the low frequency vibrations generated below the soul surface by a foraging mole. In this scenario, escaping at the soil surface is a survival option.
I think it's really neat when watching starlings probe the grass that they kind of line themselves up side by side in the line and sweep the entire area. They're also really cute to watch walk, because it looks so clumsy. Although I don't appreciate how quickly they can clean me out of suet, they're still an amusing little bird.
I had a Robin's nest in my yard. One day I was removing bricks that made the border of a flower bed. I noticed a Robin would swoop down and grab a worm that I exposed when removing bricks and carrying them into the back yard. This happened over 5 times. That Robin would watch me and wait for me to walk away. That Robin family ate well that day.
I had a "stand my ground" incident with a Robin in my front yard that made me chuckle. A large robin stood there and when I walked towards it I noticed that he didn't back off until I got quite close. Once it backed off I stepped backwards a few steps and the robin moved right back to his spot. I thought it was kinda weird that we did this 3-4 times....the last time I backed off a couple extra steps....and that gave the bird his chance! he stuck his beak in the ground and pulled out an enormous nightcrawler !! That worm was longer than the robin was.
An experienced fisherman told me you can take a small stick and make some notches on it's side. Push it slightly into the ground and rub another stick across the notches. Worms will come up quickly thinking its is rain drops as they want to leave the soil before it rains hard. That might be why one on the bird types you mentioned does a shuffle when worm hunting.
@pitviper7924 Nope. Earthworms erupt from the soil in response to this as a defensive response to the low frequency vibrations generated by a foraging mole. Moles establsh underground burrow networks, but burrow outside of these to feed. Like their shrew cousins, they consume enormous amounts of food relative to their mass. If shuffling by foraging American Robins and other earthworm hunting birds triggers even a slight flight response from nearby earthworms, this will make them easier for the bird to find. Earthworms sense rain mainly in response to changes in relative humidity, and possibly, (unconfirmed) barometric pressure. They flee the soil in response to heavy rain to avoid drowning, and this is probably triggered by anoxia.
@@Shadowbannedandcensored Robins aren't a species that uses leg flagging in an effort to bring food to the surface. The mole theory is likely not true and has never been verified. The latest theory as far as I know is that worms come to the surface during rain because it's easier for them to move around, disperse to new territories, or find mates. More info here: blog.nature.org/2019/04/15/the-real-reason-you-see-earthworms-after-rain/
Something I find interesting is that earthworms are not indigenous to north america, but robins are. Which means robins have developed this hunting technique fairly recently. Or possibly it was a convergent strategy they were already utilizing. I haven't done the research into this but just thought I'd mention it here. I know robins eat an incredible amount of earthworms
Actually, NA has many indigenous earthworm species, but populations of these in northern states and most of Canada were wiped out during periods of glaciation. Without Human activity, earthworms repopulate and spread slowly. Those who incite against synanthropic non native earthworms (!) are advocating a now unattainable reversion to past ecology. Meanwhile, native NA moles also benefit greatly from non native synanthropic earthworms, without any issues with Syngamus infestation.
@motherlandbot6837 I don't think I was advocating for some new kind of biodiversity revolution, I understand that organisms move out of their respective niches all the time. This movement is perfectly natural but the process is usually very slow. Human intervention has led to many species moving well outside their natural niches. We have observed those consequences to be quite profound [extinction, nutrient degradation, disease]. Where I live along the northeasten coast the forests have been cut down and replanted so many times what passes for a reforested area is not what was native here just 500 years ago. And it couldn't possibly get "rewilded" again, not the way it once was. In a beautiful way it never could. Because you can't move backwards through the march of time. Change is the only constant force. Could we change the type of earthworm living in the forests? Maybe but should we? Certainly not without trying to understand the consequences first. Could that even be possible? Hubris aside, I don't think so. For all the pollution and disruption and invasive introduction humans accomplish we make the best stewards possible, because we are the only species to understand. And until we embrace that moniker [Steward = protect] the world will not be safe from ourselves
@Flipbounce Agreed. The original Oak climax and mixed deciduous climax forests in the NE US (where I'm from) have been replaced by Red Maple and Sugar Maple secondary climax forests, which are responsible for the region's spectacular autumn foliage display, but which support much less biodiversity. Friends in NYC showed me a circular area about 500 feet in diameter in a low rise apartment development in the borough of Queens that was a fragment of original Black Oak climax forest, and it bore NO resemble to any of the areas of mature forest within many miles. In the tropics and subtopics, forests are far more diverse in plant and animal species as well as bacteria, fungi, etc, and forest succession, evolution, and regrowth are much faster. One commenter for a video that described Malaysia as a wildlife stronghold (they are, in ways Europeans and even Canadians could never even imagine without living there) by claiming that "Alaska and Canada are nature's strongholds". I told him that any biologist could count more species of wildlife on a single tree in a forest in Malaysia or Singapore than in all of Alaska, and that Russia currently has more original (taiga) forest than all of the rest of Europe combined, but even original taiga forests are essentially natural monocultures of European Spruce. Unsurprisingly, he simply repeated himself even more emphatically, as if that proved his belief.
@@motherlandbot6837 I know what you mean I was blown away by the bird species and biodiversity in Costa Rica when I visited, but even in Florida the amount of flora and fauna per square meter is an order of magnitude larger than the northeast. At least that how it feels when I walk around in it. But maybe it's a human bias, you tend not to notice what you have come to recognize as ordinary. The Floridian everglades and the Costa Rican rainforest are like fantasy worlds compared to the tame maple and oak deciduous forests full of gray squirrels and white tail deer I grew up in. Which is why preserving and protecting these places from impending climate change is paramount.
Hi, good morning 🌅 to you from Hong Kong 🇭🇰. I have also read that the American Robins have sensitive feet and are able to detect worm movements below the grass, and they then listen carefully to pin-point the accurate location of worms in the soil.
Very interesting! I haven't seen any research on how Anerican Robins or their relatives find earthworms, that even considered this possibility. Hong Kong's Chinese Blackbird (Turdus mandarinus) is also an earthworm predator on lawns and golf greens, and your Gray Backed Thrush (Turdus hortulorum) has also become synanthropic. The first in particular might be a good subject for a local ornithologist to study regarding their earthworm detection abilities.
Forgot to mention that most earthworms are nocturnal as an adaptive response to bird predation as well as heat and sunlight exposure, and are inactive (and quiet) during the hours that thrushes are foraging.
I was taking a break with Iced Tea before cutting the last section of lawn along my driveway. A robin flew in and started hunting the deep grass along the edge of the driveway. I sat and watched to see him hunt. Soon he bounced out from under my barbie with a beak full of grass and dropped it while looking at me. It was like he was telling me to mow the lawn, and get to it! This bird was always there when I turned the soil, cut a worm with the shovel and would throw him a section of the worm. He took it and flew off then returned for more. Same bird.
Do an extended version on the A. robin please. I mean, come on, it's the American robin! Almost always a massively charismatic creature, unlike many humans!
When I was a kid, I would mow our lawn with a push-reel mower, and there would usually be a robin following me around the yard, grabbing worms (or bugs?) as we went. I figured the mower disturbed the worms and made them move around more, or maybe the cutting made them easier to see, but I don’t really know.
Makes really good sense! I think there's been some research about woodpeckers too, and how they choose where they will hammer at a tree trunk based on sound cues. Or at least that was the theory, I don't remember now if the researchers found supporting evidence or not. It's really cool to understand that robins and other small birds are really predators too - not as flashy or fierce as a falcon, maybe, but still well adapted to get the prey they prefer! Thank you for the video!
The bit about owls hearing stuff going on below snow... many times I've come across what is clearly an owl strike in the snow, having a central depression and radiating feather marks from wings.
In NZ it is primarily the introduced blackbird. Although now long retired, I came upon this question from children - and even colleagues - from time to time. In simple terms I concluded that birds see colour quite differently to us, so that a pink-brown worm, even a small part of it, might shine like a beacon within the blackbirds perception of visible light. They can obtain and hold onto, a beakful of worms at any time of day.
Once when I was turning my garden I would rest in a chair occasionally. When I did that a robin would come in and look for worms in the freshly exposed dirt. When I started again it would sit a short distance and watch. Every time I stopped it swooped in.
I like watching the birds after i get done mowing the lawn, because birds pay attention to your lawn because they know when you are mowing that there is a feast coming after you get done, from all the insects that have been chewed up by the mower.
Ironically, American Robins have become successful as synanthropes mainly because they exploit already synanthropic Old World earthworms introduced to NA with plants and soil by waves of Human migrants. Lumbricus terrestris (the 'Canadian' Nightcrawler or Gray Nightcrawler of the bait trade) and Lumbricus rubellus ('Belgian Nightcrawler') are two of the most common turf earthworms in the US, and are better adapted to such habitats outside of hot summer areas than most native earthworms. The Old World Redworm or Brandling (Eisenia foetida) that abounds in many compost heaps and near ungulate droppings does not thrive outside of such high nutrient habitats, and also produces noxious defensive secretions, and thus is much less important as a food source for American Robins, especially those rearing young. With these Old World earthworms came the Gapeworm (Syngamus spp.) to which American Robins are still in the process of evolving tolerance.
You should do a video about the american coo- coo bird.Known in the eastern U.S. by the old timers, which called them rain crows.They coo coo 24 hrs a day, mostly in times of drought.They are very shy and elusive.I hunted until my 50s, and have only saw 1 or 2.I hear them on my audio recorder 24 hrs a day.Thank you for providing us with great content.😊
When I would mow my lawn, a Western Kingbird would sit on the wire above me and watch for insects to fly up. It would dive down and catch a meal. I always enjoyed the air show.
I read somewhere, or maybe someone told me that worms come to the surface in the rain to avoid drowning in a tunnel filled with water. When robins hop it sounds to worms as if raindrops are hitting the soil. worms come to the surface robin gets the worm. I have no idea if its true but it sounds plausible to me.
I didn’t find any evidence supporting the hopping. If you go outside and step on the grass it doesn’t trigger the worms to come up. If would need to be similar to the leg flagging that Killdeer do or more of a consistent vibration as far as I know
Hawks sit on my fence all the time and spot worms moving in the lawn 10 or 20 feet away, and then fly down to eat. I think the grass would hide sighting the worms directly, but the hawks cue on the blades of grass being disturbed as the worms crawl along the surface.
I think birds put their beaks into a kind of quantum superposition of both "worm", and "not worm". When they poke it into the ground they collapse the wavefront and either a "worm", or "not worm" signal is detected. From that information they can just look down the hole and wait for the worm to appear, or not appear.
Robins are sensing electrical signals from the preys nervous systems. You can see Mom teaching the young. It takes them quite a while to learn to use this ability.
Interesting, I've observed blackbirds exhibiting the same behaviour as the American Robin I see in this video clip. I thought, that Robin behaves a lot like a thrush, and sure enough, a little research supports this.
Watching the robin quartering the ground, it occurs to me that it hears in stereo. Why does it hop one way and not the other? I think they may zero in using their ears. Hop to the side the sound is coming from. Then the eyes deliver the coup de grace.
I was wondering about seed eaters? I wonder if they see seed, like we see neon signs? Cause I put seed out after it was empty for a while, and just like that, they are on it.
They watch both for seeds and for other birds (not necessarily conspecifics) rushing to food. Some birds utter calls that attract others of their flock when they find food (waxwings, some cardueline finches), even though they usually defend a personal space around themselves when they are actually eating. In nature, seeds are rarely concentrated in very large quantities in a small area as in feeders and bird tables, but this difference does not discourage most seed eating birds, quite the opposite. Many insect and worm eating birds are initially cautious when offered 'abnormally' large quantities of prey. This is particularly true for birds such as wrens which are preprogrammed to respond to moving insects. Also birds eating small seeds such as millets and niger tend to defend smaller personal spaces around themselves than those eating or carrying off large seeds or insects or worms. When corvids feed or carry off food as a group, the flock dominance hierarchy is very evident. Subordinates wait until dominate individuals have left unless food is distributed over a large area, in which case they tend to feed on the periphery of the group and are threatened by their superiors if they crowd them. If you have seen videos of Carrion and Hooded Crows accepting Human handouts, what many people anthropomorphically think of as "polite bowing" as the Crows line up by social status, are actually spatially defensive dominance displays; the bower is warning a subordinate to give way or avoid getting too close. Carrion, Hooded, Large Billed, and House Crows, and Rooks, warn against crowding with dominance displays even when mobbing owls! None of these Crows usually have the extended family system common to most populations of American and Northwestern Crows. Bluejays taking Peanuts or Sunflower seeds from a bird table or feeder take turns by social status. On the rare occasions when a subordinate does not fly off when a dominant Jay arrives, the latter will threaten with open bill to assert status. Family groups of Bluejays will often feed or gather seeds amicably together for weeks or even months after the youngsters are weaned.
@@bobw.991 They both see the seeds and/or other birds (not necessarily their own species) rushing to food. Some birds such as some cardueline finches alert other members of their flock to the presence of food with specific calls, but still defend a small personal space when eating.
Sight hunting makes sense... Look at the robin's beak. It isn't that long. The bird isn't digging multiple inchese into the soil. Birds tend to have very acute vision. So if a worm is near the surface and disturbs the soil/foliage even minutely with its movement... The birds are probably able to see it.
A bird digging in the ground seems like a tough way to make a living. They could be better off finding some bug on the ground, like a centipede if they are really into crawly things
Humans tend to use their imaginations rather than observation skills. Robins use all of their senses just like all creatures but if you ever get close to the ground, especially after a rain, it becomes pretty obvious when you are at robin level and can see all the worms pushing up through the earth, and observe the robins working, bouncing around and peering down. The other cognitive difficulty we suffer is always wanting to find a singular explanation for everything when, usually, multiple factors are at play, Robins aren’t just winged eyeballs. They can also smell and feel.
You can say humans use their imagination but that’s why they did scientific studies like the 2 I talked about suggesting it’s mostly sight and sound-based over all other senses.
I used to watch blue jays pick the worm infested strawberry guavas from a tree and dig a hole with their filled beak to bury them into the soil. Like they were farming.
If you want to see Robins congregate in the surrounding trees, just start turning over some dirt. Perhaps they can smell the overturned dirt. When I walk away they start showing up on the freshly exposed dirt and start poking in the ground for worms. Seeing as how I can smell worm castings, I know the robins can smell it. I handle worms often and I have never been able to smell the worms but I can smell fresh worm castings. Anyway, I am certain that robins and seagulls follow human activities for a clue to easy worm pickings.
I love birds but there are two invasive species that were deposited here from Europe. The European Sparrow and the Starling. A flock of 15 Sparrows will dominate and ravage the contents of my five pound capacity feeder very fast. They also bully the native species who attempt to grab a few seeds. To make matters worse, many people no longer can afford the extra cost of buying seeds. That too overpopulates my feeding station. It saddens me, but soon I will no longer maintain a source of seeds for the birds. 🤷🏼♀️
Robins are more than we know. Ask anybody in the midwest what robins eat...worms I was out West on the Columbia River there's no worms there.. Robins eat everything else One nested at my place 3 years in a row, just in time for the giant black ants swarm out... The robin would fly from tree to tree just hanging onto the si bark and then swoop... two months every year
I was born in the alpine mountains of eastern tennessee, and had the last remaining cherokee indian in the area that was a native if a once great tribe.He taught me to hunt and fish, and he would go thru the woods like a ghost.He said when times were hard back in the day, his people would eat robins, which he said were delicious.Thanks again for the video.
If you live in an area with both Robins and Starlings, it is interesting to note their hunting styles on lawns. Robins use the senses noted to find food selectively, often moving some distance between targets. In contrast, Starlings plod along, continuously probing the grass with their beaks until they find something. Differing methods that both work well.
Ah, but Common Starlings are specialist predators on turf dwelling insect larvae such as wire worms and Japanese Beetle grubs, while American Robins are specialist earthworm predators when foraging on lawns and golf courses.
Earthworms respond immediately to a Starling's "probe and open your bill" hunting technique by fleeing sideways or retreating further below the surface in their burrows, where a Starling can't reach them. Wire worms and "white grubs" can't do this.
The reason why earthworms erupt from the soil when a bait collector drives a pole or stake into the ground, then rubs this with a rough or serrated object is that the low frequency vibrations thus generated trigger the earthworms flight response to the low frequency vibrations generated below the soul surface by a foraging mole. In this scenario, escaping at the soil surface is a survival option.
@motherlandbot6837 Correct, and well elaborated. I was merely noting the differences a more casual observer might see.
I think it's really neat when watching starlings probe the grass that they kind of line themselves up side by side in the line and sweep the entire area. They're also really cute to watch walk, because it looks so clumsy. Although I don't appreciate how quickly they can clean me out of suet, they're still an amusing little bird.
@@leestamm3187 Yes, I remember that behavior, seems more set towards digging tru leaves for insects, and worms are a bonus
There is also a bird that taps it's feet on the ground to simulate the vibrations of rain hitting the ground, which causes the worms to surface
Robins are the early birds. That's why they get the worms.
So early they sometimes sing before it’s even light out 😳
Ok I gotta say this
I just heard it...
The Early Bird may get the worm. BUT
The second mouse Always gets the Cheese....
Source:
Filian (Foxgirl?) ???
Boooooooo get off the stage. 😆
Early Bird may get the worm.... but it's the second mouse that gets the cheese
@@BoozeandNewswithTimandDut hehe... He...
snack-R-trap
Scat-*R*.....🙃
I had a Robin's nest in my yard. One day I was removing bricks that made the border of a flower bed. I noticed a Robin would swoop down and grab a worm that I exposed when removing bricks and carrying them into the back yard. This happened over 5 times. That Robin would watch me and wait for me to walk away. That Robin family ate well that day.
Very cool!
That is so fun. One of the best free things in life.
I had a "stand my ground" incident with a Robin in my front yard that made me chuckle. A large robin stood there and when I walked towards it I noticed that he didn't back off until I got quite close. Once it backed off I stepped backwards a few steps and the robin moved right back to his spot. I thought it was kinda weird that we did this 3-4 times....the last time I backed off a couple extra steps....and that gave the bird his chance! he stuck his beak in the ground and pulled out an enormous nightcrawler !! That worm was longer than the robin was.
@@CBeard849 haha that’s funny!
An experienced fisherman told me you can take a small stick and make some notches on it's side. Push it slightly into the ground and rub another stick across the notches.
Worms will come up quickly thinking its is rain drops as they want to leave the soil before it rains hard.
That might be why one on the bird types you mentioned does a shuffle when worm hunting.
Yes! That's exactly what the leg flagging is said to mimic
@pitviper7924 Nope. Earthworms erupt from the soil in response to this as a defensive response to the low frequency vibrations generated by a foraging mole. Moles establsh underground burrow networks, but burrow outside of these to feed. Like their shrew cousins, they consume enormous amounts of food relative to their mass.
If shuffling by foraging American Robins and other earthworm hunting birds triggers even a slight flight response from nearby earthworms, this will make them easier for the bird to find.
Earthworms sense rain mainly in response to changes in relative humidity, and possibly, (unconfirmed) barometric pressure. They flee the soil in response to heavy rain to avoid drowning, and this is probably triggered by anoxia.
@@Shadowbannedandcensored Robins aren't a species that uses leg flagging in an effort to bring food to the surface.
The mole theory is likely not true and has never been verified. The latest theory as far as I know is that worms come to the surface during rain because it's easier for them to move around, disperse to new territories, or find mates. More info here: blog.nature.org/2019/04/15/the-real-reason-you-see-earthworms-after-rain/
@@BadgerlandBirding Thanks for the updated information!
Similarly, I can be digging around in my lawn, and worms will erupt several feet away probably due to the vibration.
Something I find interesting is that earthworms are not indigenous to north america, but robins are. Which means robins have developed this hunting technique fairly recently. Or possibly it was a convergent strategy they were already utilizing. I haven't done the research into this but just thought I'd mention it here. I know robins eat an incredible amount of earthworms
Actually, NA has many indigenous earthworm species, but populations of these in northern states and most of Canada were wiped out during periods of glaciation.
Without Human activity, earthworms repopulate and spread slowly.
Those who incite against synanthropic non native earthworms (!) are advocating a now unattainable reversion to past ecology.
Meanwhile, native NA moles also benefit greatly from non native synanthropic earthworms, without any issues with Syngamus infestation.
@motherlandbot6837 I don't think I was advocating for some new kind of biodiversity revolution, I understand that organisms move out of their respective niches all the time. This movement is perfectly natural but the process is usually very slow. Human intervention has led to many species moving well outside their natural niches. We have observed those consequences to be quite profound [extinction, nutrient degradation, disease]. Where I live along the northeasten coast the forests have been cut down and replanted so many times what passes for a reforested area is not what was native here just 500 years ago. And it couldn't possibly get "rewilded" again, not the way it once was.
In a beautiful way it never could. Because you can't move backwards through the march of time. Change is the only constant force. Could we change the type of earthworm living in the forests? Maybe but should we? Certainly not without trying to understand the consequences first. Could that even be possible? Hubris aside, I don't think so.
For all the pollution and disruption and invasive introduction humans accomplish we make the best stewards possible, because we are the only species to understand. And until we embrace that moniker [Steward = protect] the world will not be safe from ourselves
@Flipbounce Agreed. The original Oak climax and mixed deciduous climax forests in the NE US (where I'm from) have been replaced by Red Maple and Sugar Maple secondary climax forests, which are responsible for the region's spectacular autumn foliage display, but which support much less biodiversity.
Friends in NYC showed me a circular area about 500 feet in diameter in a low rise apartment development in the borough of Queens that was a fragment of original Black Oak climax forest, and it bore NO resemble to any of the areas of mature forest within many miles.
In the tropics and subtopics, forests are far more diverse in plant and animal species as well as bacteria, fungi, etc, and forest succession, evolution, and regrowth are much faster. One commenter for a video that described Malaysia as a wildlife stronghold (they are, in ways Europeans and even Canadians could never even imagine without living there) by claiming that "Alaska and Canada are nature's strongholds". I told him that any biologist could count more species of wildlife on a single tree in a forest in Malaysia or Singapore than in all of Alaska, and that Russia currently has more original (taiga) forest than all of the rest of Europe combined, but even original taiga forests are essentially natural monocultures of European Spruce. Unsurprisingly, he simply repeated himself even more emphatically, as if that proved his belief.
@@motherlandbot6837 I know what you mean I was blown away by the bird species and biodiversity in Costa Rica when I visited, but even in Florida the amount of flora and fauna per square meter is an order of magnitude larger than the northeast. At least that how it feels when I walk around in it. But maybe it's a human bias, you tend not to notice what you have come to recognize as ordinary. The Floridian everglades and the Costa Rican rainforest are like fantasy worlds compared to the tame maple and oak deciduous forests full of gray squirrels and white tail deer I grew up in.
Which is why preserving and protecting these places from impending climate change is paramount.
Hi, good morning 🌅 to you from Hong Kong 🇭🇰. I have also read that the American Robins have sensitive feet and are able to detect worm movements below the grass, and they then listen carefully to pin-point the accurate location of worms in the soil.
@@markshen3280 the sensitive feet part came up in a few places but didn’t seem to be supported by the studies I found
Very interesting! I haven't seen any research on how Anerican Robins or their relatives find earthworms, that even considered this possibility.
Hong Kong's Chinese Blackbird (Turdus mandarinus) is also an earthworm predator on lawns and golf greens, and your Gray Backed Thrush (Turdus hortulorum) has also become synanthropic. The first in particular might be a good subject for a local ornithologist to study regarding their earthworm detection abilities.
Forgot to mention that most earthworms are nocturnal as an adaptive response to bird predation as well as heat and sunlight exposure, and are inactive (and quiet) during the hours that thrushes are foraging.
Read....WHERE!? In the Sunday comics or in an academic text?!
Wow, what an interesting video. Thank you for sharing. Love your channel. Have a HappyThanksgiving
@@lindaeshbach6494 so glad you enjoy it! Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
I was taking a break with Iced Tea before cutting the last section of lawn along my driveway. A robin flew in and started hunting the deep grass along the edge of the driveway. I sat and watched to see him hunt. Soon he bounced out from under my barbie with a beak full of grass and dropped it while looking at me. It was like he was telling me to mow the lawn, and get to it! This bird was always there when I turned the soil, cut a worm with the shovel and would throw him a section of the worm. He took it and flew off then returned for more. Same bird.
I come and go to this channel. This is my favorite video of yours in a couple of years. Keep it up!
Glad you enjoyed the video!
Do an extended version on the A. robin please. I mean, come on, it's the American robin! Almost always a massively charismatic creature, unlike many humans!
I like where your heads at :p
When I was a kid, I would mow our lawn with a push-reel mower, and there would usually be a robin following me around the yard, grabbing worms (or bugs?) as we went. I figured the mower disturbed the worms and made them move around more, or maybe the cutting made them easier to see, but I don’t really know.
Probably getting the bugs disturbed or chopped up that were in the grass! Also shorter grass probably makes it easier for them to find the worms
Cool video and very interesting!
@@everettwery thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
@@BadgerlandBirding Your comments people are rocking this subject!
Another great tutorial
@@timjozwiak2293 glad you enjoyed it!
Makes really good sense! I think there's been some research about woodpeckers too, and how they choose where they will hammer at a tree trunk based on sound cues. Or at least that was the theory, I don't remember now if the researchers found supporting evidence or not. It's really cool to understand that robins and other small birds are really predators too - not as flashy or fierce as a falcon, maybe, but still well adapted to get the prey they prefer! Thank you for the video!
You’re welcome! I’ll have to look up the woodpecker thing!
The bit about owls hearing stuff going on below snow... many times I've come across what is clearly an owl strike in the snow, having a central depression and radiating feather marks from wings.
Yup! You can totally see the aftermath
I was always amazed by seagulls, how they could see someone throwing popcorn for them to eat from so far away.
I’ve also seen them open new chip bags! They know what’s in there and they know it’s FOOD!
In NZ it is primarily the introduced blackbird. Although now long retired, I came upon this question from children - and even colleagues - from time to time. In simple terms I concluded that birds see colour quite differently to us, so that a pink-brown worm, even a small part of it, might shine like a beacon within the blackbirds perception of visible light. They can obtain and hold onto, a beakful of worms at any time of day.
Interesting vid! thanks for making it, keep up the great work
@@Oltoir thanks for watching!
Once when I was turning my garden I would rest in a chair occasionally. When I did that a robin would come in and look for worms in the freshly exposed dirt. When I started again it would sit a short distance and watch. Every time I stopped it swooped in.
I like watching the birds after i get done mowing the lawn, because birds pay attention to your lawn because they know when you are mowing that there is a feast coming after you get done, from all the insects that have been chewed up by the mower.
I remember being told as a kid that bird steps sound like rain to the worms so they surface and birds grab them.
Ironically, American Robins have become successful as synanthropes mainly because they exploit already synanthropic Old World earthworms introduced to NA with plants and soil by waves of Human migrants. Lumbricus terrestris (the 'Canadian' Nightcrawler or Gray Nightcrawler of the bait trade) and Lumbricus rubellus ('Belgian Nightcrawler') are two of the most common turf earthworms in the US, and are better adapted to such habitats outside of hot summer areas than most native earthworms. The Old World Redworm or Brandling (Eisenia foetida) that abounds in many compost heaps and near ungulate droppings does not thrive outside of such high nutrient habitats, and also produces noxious defensive secretions, and thus is much less important as a food source for American Robins, especially those rearing young. With these Old World earthworms came the Gapeworm (Syngamus spp.) to which American Robins are still in the process of evolving tolerance.
@@motherlandbot6837 very interesting!
This!
Fascinating thanks
@@jronkowski4346 you’re welcome!
You should do a video about the american coo- coo bird.Known in the eastern U.S. by the old timers, which called them rain crows.They coo coo 24 hrs a day, mostly in times of drought.They are very shy and elusive.I hunted until my 50s, and have only saw 1 or 2.I hear them on my audio recorder 24 hrs a day.Thank you for providing us with great content.😊
We have a pair of ravens. They watch me when I pick up the pool net. It often means a mouse that I pitch onto the lawn. They quickly get it
When I would mow my lawn, a Western Kingbird would sit on the wire above me and watch for insects to fly up. It would dive down and catch a meal. I always enjoyed the air show.
I read somewhere, or maybe someone told me that worms come to the surface in the rain to avoid drowning in a tunnel filled with water. When robins hop it sounds to worms as if raindrops are hitting the soil. worms come to the surface robin gets the worm. I have no idea if its true but it sounds plausible to me.
I didn’t find any evidence supporting the hopping. If you go outside and step on the grass it doesn’t trigger the worms to come up. If would need to be similar to the leg flagging that Killdeer do or more of a consistent vibration as far as I know
Robins are as entertaining as therapeutic if you take the time to watch.
💯
Hawks sit on my fence all the time and spot worms moving in the lawn 10 or 20 feet away, and then fly down to eat. I think the grass would hide sighting the worms directly, but the hawks cue on the blades of grass being disturbed as the worms crawl along the surface.
So it's not because they're early?!
@@DustinHaning maybe after a rain storm! 🤣
The American Woodcock has a fascinating adaptation for worm-finding.
@@UrsaMajorPrime they are super cool birds!
Excellent!
@@jamescady723 thanks!
Last spring I had over 50 Robins on my front lawn at one time!
@@justayoutuber1906 wow! That’s impressive!
I think birds put their beaks into a kind of quantum superposition of both "worm", and "not worm". When they poke it into the ground they collapse the wavefront and either a "worm", or "not worm" signal is detected. From that information they can just look down the hole and wait for the worm to appear, or not appear.
@@A3Kr0n Schrödinger’s Earthworm
Robins are sensing electrical signals from the preys nervous systems. You can see Mom teaching the young. It takes them quite a while to learn to use this ability.
That would be cool…if it were true
Informative video. I thought the reason birds tap the soil with feet is to emulate the sound of rain falling which brings worms to the surface.m
Watching the video of American Robins hunting for worms in a lawn I was struck by how similar their technique is to Australian Magpies.
What method was used to limit their senses? Surgical removal of the relevant organs?
Interesting, I've observed blackbirds exhibiting the same behaviour as the American Robin I see in this video clip.
I thought, that Robin behaves a lot like a thrush, and sure enough, a little research supports this.
@@sigeberhtmercia767 yup! Robins are thrushes!
Watching the robin quartering the ground, it occurs to me that it hears in stereo. Why does it hop one way and not the other? I think they may zero in using their ears. Hop to the side the sound is coming from. Then the eyes deliver the coup de grace.
I was wondering about seed eaters? I wonder if they see seed, like we see neon signs? Cause I put seed out after it was empty for a while, and just like that, they are on it.
They watch both for seeds and for other birds (not necessarily conspecifics) rushing to food. Some birds utter calls that attract others of their flock when they find food (waxwings, some cardueline finches), even though they usually defend a personal space around themselves when they are actually eating.
In nature, seeds are rarely concentrated in very large quantities in a small area as in feeders and bird tables, but this difference does not discourage most seed eating birds, quite the opposite. Many insect and worm eating birds are initially cautious when offered 'abnormally' large quantities of prey. This is particularly true for birds such as wrens which are preprogrammed to respond to moving insects.
Also birds eating small seeds such as millets and niger tend to defend smaller personal spaces around themselves than those eating or carrying off large seeds or insects or worms.
When corvids feed or carry off food as a group, the flock dominance hierarchy is very evident. Subordinates wait until dominate individuals have left unless food is distributed over a large area, in which case they tend to feed on the periphery of the group and are threatened by their superiors if they crowd them. If you have seen videos of Carrion and Hooded Crows accepting Human handouts, what many people anthropomorphically think of as "polite bowing" as the Crows line up by social status, are actually spatially defensive dominance displays; the bower is warning a subordinate to give way or avoid getting too close. Carrion, Hooded, Large Billed, and House Crows, and Rooks, warn against crowding with dominance displays even when mobbing owls! None of these Crows usually have the extended family system common to most populations of American and Northwestern Crows. Bluejays taking Peanuts or Sunflower seeds from a bird table or feeder take turns by social status. On the rare occasions when a subordinate does not fly off when a dominant Jay arrives, the latter will threaten with open bill to assert status. Family groups of Bluejays will often feed or gather seeds amicably together for weeks or even months after the youngsters are weaned.
@@bobw.991 They both see the seeds and/or other birds (not necessarily their own species) rushing to food.
Some birds such as some cardueline finches alert other members of their flock to the presence of food with specific calls, but still defend a small personal space when eating.
We don't see many Robin's here in central Florida . We don't have many worms here . I think it's because the soil is so sandy ?
This is a subject that I pondered for years, but I never researched it bc it was just so much fun to ponder !!!😆🤣😝
@@gaylereid8264 you’re still welcome to ponder it 🤣 I feel like they need an updated study
Sight hunting makes sense... Look at the robin's beak. It isn't that long. The bird isn't digging multiple inchese into the soil.
Birds tend to have very acute vision. So if a worm is near the surface and disturbs the soil/foliage even minutely with its movement... The birds are probably able to see it.
A bird digging in the ground seems like a tough way to make a living. They could be better off finding some bug on the ground, like a centipede if they are really into crawly things
Humans tend to use their imaginations rather than observation skills. Robins use all of their senses just like all creatures but if you ever get close to the ground, especially after a rain, it becomes pretty obvious when you are at robin level and can see all the worms pushing up through the earth, and observe the robins working, bouncing around and peering down. The other cognitive difficulty we suffer is always wanting to find a singular explanation for everything when, usually, multiple factors are at play, Robins aren’t just winged eyeballs. They can also smell and feel.
You can say humans use their imagination but that’s why they did scientific studies like the 2 I talked about suggesting it’s mostly sight and sound-based over all other senses.
Robins “hear” worms? How much noise could they possibly make?
"The early bird gets the worm. The early worm gets eaten."
I’ve noticed they don’t eat the worms on the path after rain they still just look for them in the grass.
I used to watch blue jays pick the worm infested strawberry guavas from a tree and dig a hole with their filled beak to bury them into the soil. Like they were farming.
Very interesting , thanks. I’ve always wondered why birds don’t take worms on concrete driveways?
I’ve seen them take them from driveways! I’ve never heard of them not doing that.
I wonder how increased ambient noise from human activities affects birds like owls.
If you want to see Robins congregate in the surrounding trees, just start turning over some dirt. Perhaps they can smell the overturned dirt. When I walk away they start showing up on the freshly exposed dirt and start poking in the ground for worms. Seeing as how I can smell worm castings, I know the robins can smell it. I handle worms often and I have never been able to smell the worms but I can smell fresh worm castings.
Anyway, I am certain that robins and seagulls follow human activities for a clue to easy worm pickings.
If you ever heard night crawler at night after a good rain, then you know its by hearing 1st and sight is second.
One time I walked toward a robin that had a huge night crawler. It actually dropped it and flew away so I used the worm for fishing.
The same thing happened with a coyote that had a bat in its mouth. I got out of my car to look closer and it dropped the bat then ran away????
I believe sight is important (daylight) or else they would be looking at night in the dark.
Very true!
Earthworms aren’t even native to most of North America, so the avian skills at finding them are recently developed.
Are the worms screaming in fear?
👀
Oftentimes the back end of worms breaks and the worm escapes to grow a new one, especially in compacted soils.
Very cool!
Are they sure that robins aren't feeling vibrations through their feet?
Yeah, at least as far as their studies are concerned
Just found this channel. Mark Wahlberg Jr. telling me about birds, what’s not to like?
Haha I’ll take it 🤣
¿How'd the kids find them?
Birds are cool, but the wood turtle has them beat on most creative way to find worms.
Well don’t leave us hanging….
I love birds but there are two invasive species that were deposited here from Europe. The European Sparrow and the Starling. A flock of 15 Sparrows will dominate and ravage the contents of my five pound capacity feeder very fast. They also bully the native species who attempt to grab a few seeds. To make matters worse, many people no longer can afford the extra cost of buying seeds. That too overpopulates my feeding station. It saddens me, but soon I will no longer maintain a source of seeds for the birds. 🤷🏼♀️
❤
Robins are more than we know.
Ask anybody in the midwest what robins
eat...worms
I was out West on the Columbia River
there's no worms there.. Robins eat everything else
One nested at my place 3 years in a row, just in time for the giant black ants swarm out...
The robin would fly from tree to tree just hanging onto the si bark and then swoop... two months every year
Why don't robins eat worms that have wandered onto the sidewalk?
They do that too! It’s a goldmine for them when it rains
I figured it out!... They have worm radar, duuuuuh!
how the worm turms
I think a lot comes from their feet. Vibrations and they have goo eye sight.
Can you train a bird to bring you worms? Like in China birds are trained to bring you fish?
Comment ✌️
@@StarTexaspets comment ✌️
Bird😊
@@TracyBirds Bird 🦆
Neat!!!
@@BertosBirdLife thanks!
🤩🇺🇸👍⚖️👁️👁️⚖️ Working with soil when digging, vibrations will definitely make earth worms rise to the surface!👍🏁👍🏁
I’m just gonna spit ball here but I would say they’re looking for worms to eat
Some solid spitballing
Eyes.
The UK robin waits by me to disturb the ground ( then feeds ! ) .. that's so EASY 😝 ........ DAVE™🛑
While it's your job to make a living
Pretty much useless information that everybody knows by the time they are 10.
Yet here you are, clicking on it
@BadgerlandBirding
Yeah, and stopped the video in less than 10 seconds not wanting to be bored with the rest of it.
@@Lee-yy2lr then you didn’t actually get to the reason…but hey, I appreciate you checking it out
Well just give you the Nobel prize now and get it over with.
@Steve-q6l4v
I'll take it.
Robins listen for worms if you watch them you will see them cocking their head to the side trying to locate the sound.
they have eyes