European Robin — printable fact sheet

Did you know?

• Despite their popularity and friendly appearance, European Robins can be surprisingly aggressive, sometimes fighting intruders to the death to defend their territory.
• Both sexes hold territories in winter and both sing, which is unusual among European songbirds, and the melancholy winter song is a territorial advertisement rather than courtship. The robin's breast is orange, not red, but the word "orange" did not exist in English until the fruit arrived, so it was named for the closest available colour. Robins routinely sing at night under street lighting, and urban robins have been shown to sing at night partly to escape daytime traffic noise. A robin's average lifespan is only about a year, though ringed birds have reached eight.