In Britain robins are often associated with gardeners, following them around as they dig the ground. People may even have robins in their gardens that are tame enough to feed from the hand.
It also means robins are incredibly easy to photograph close up and will happily pose for the camera perhaps perched on top of a garden fork.
There are a few reasons which may explain why robins appear friendlier than other birds. When robins live in the wild in woods or forests they are known to follow large mammals, such as wild boar or deer, using their inbuilt curiosity to find new ways to find food.
As the animals move around they disturb the ground bringing worms and insects to the surface which robins can easily forage on. In more urban areas robins are mimicking this behaviour by following humans, taking advantage of the freshly dug up soil to find food.
It is interesting to note that in the rest of Europe robins are much more shy and rarely leave the confines of the forest. There has long been a tradition of hunting and trapping small birds on the continent so robins have remained fearful of humans whereas in Britain robins have co-existed with humans for many years and learned that there is no threat in being close to us. In fact they may be at an advantage by being friendly towards humans as they are rewarded with food.
41 Responses
It’s the same in Ireland. They are very friendly and associated with passed loved ones . They will follow you as you garden . I don’t dig , but they like cat nuts . And the cats seem to ignore them. I find that bit a bit odd , but hey , I’ll take it.
Interesting. Obviously there is an evolutionary explanation and this makes complete sense.
Every summer I have a robin or two in the garden and I love them. Once, one hopped inside the back door, left a little deposit and hopped back out again! I forgave him/her xx
Max, I have had similar experience where they have come in a foot or two when the door was open but thankfully no presents were left!
We have conifers around our garden and usually we have a pair or two of robins. One of the pairs has recently decided to build their nest in one of the regular building blocks which are used to hold up our oil tank!!
I think another reason is that humans scare other birds and so they can enjoy some non competition when they feed on the ground. I’m from Canada and they are not afraid of me but they hate crows & steller jays because they attack their eggs or baby chicks. Robins used to build their nest right below my roof until the crows realized I was paying attention to it and then they relentlessly preyed on it thereafter. Never stare too long at a robin’s nest. Crows watch you watch.
I had 4 robins last year and a clutch of babies but only 2 came back. They met me as i cam home, they heard the car and sat on the wall waiting. Im the morning they sat outside the door, following me aroubd the field as I walked the dogs. Then would stand in the doorway waiting to be fed. If i ignored whichever one it was, it would step over the doorstep!
I live next door to a farm and a rat came to eat the bird food and then a cat visited! One if them killed one of the robins probably because they were so tame, i miss him.
My dogs chased the cat off but im still trying to chase the rat off humanely! Im trying cayenne pepper tomorrow.
I love cats and we have two but they stay in the house mostly. We have a few stray cats that wonder in to the garden. The robins noises let us know when they are about and we can scare them away but a rat is a difficult one to deal with. We used to keep bird seed in our garden shed but mice or rats used to get in at it. Never seen them but they are never far away!!!
I’ve recently started leaving food out in my back garden for a Robin who now visits me dozens of times a day. He’s still very wary of me and flies away if I try to approach when he’s feeding. I’m hoping that he’ll get used to me in the coming months and will stick around while I’m out digging the garden so he can take advantage of the worms ect.
Feed him dried mealworms and you’ll have a friend for life!
Feed him live mealworms if you can get them and he’ll bite your hand off!
I’ve always thought that the reason why they are so friendly is that they are one of the most loved birds and they have learned that there is little threat from humans. Although they are very friendly to us they don’t get on with other birds and particularly their own kind.
Yesterday I was emptying trash into one of my carts, and as I turned around to go back inside, I was startled by a Robin on my back porch! I don’t know who was more startled, it foe seeing me, or me for seeing it! I was wishing I had my camera with me so I could’ve gotten a couple pictures. I did it with a baby blue jay, and it wasn’t at all afraid of me. Then, as I was watching for my mocking bird friend, a mourning dove landed on my husband’s grill shelf to ‘rest”. I’ve had a good experience with wild birds, the mocking bird was a surprise
My friendliest robin is a little female (V shaped “hairline” on the forehead) and yesterday she did something unexpected. She kept landing on a low-level feeder near me, and making a single “pip” warning note, just before eating mealworms and then flying off. I had no idea the big fluffy cat from the alleyway was in our garden until I stood up, and it ran away – chased by three flying robins, including her. This was a very clever thing she was doing, as she had seen me chase that cat away several times. She was actually asking me to watch her back as she ate, because the cat was there!
I and my girl have a Robin who eats out of our hand and sits on our back, hops around our flat and livingroom when we leave the door open and likes to be photographed, cuddled and talked to. He is part of the family.
❤❤❤!
I call my Robin Ruby and she has a younger Robin whom I call Robin. Over the past lot of months Ruby has been getting closer to me. I have left seeds out for her. Today she was waiting at the end of the garden. I chatted with her and Hope soon she will be eating out of my hand. We live in Rural Northern Ireland.
I have a Robin who has bonded with me since Aug as fledgling. I’ve watched him grow and establish his territory in a big garden I work in. He happily takes meal worms from my hand and loves to chat to me as I work. But I’ve not seen him for over a week now and I’m worried an older Robin has bullied him away or worse.. I miss little Johnny!
Hi I live in a ground floor flat with back garden and had a robin visit me every day, I sat with food on my hand for a while and he picked up the courage and started eating out of my hand all the time, his favourite was meal worms and digestive biscuits. From beginning of March I haven’t seen ( him or her ) but I read this is when they start nesting but will come back later, hopefully.
Janice, Newtownabbey.
I saw a Robin in my garden went over to him and he stayed still so I picked him up and he was quite at home on my finger ten minutes later he didn’t seem to want to go pm after another five minute chat and kissing him and stroking him I put my finger near to my shed roof he hopped off then hopped back to my finger we had another long chat and I offered him off again and he hopped off and slowly flew away it made my day!!!!!!
That is beautiful!
Wow, how do you do that? I’m friends with red Robbins coming to my garden but still they are too shy to jumpo on me or feed from my hand…I wish I could do that one day
When I lived in Kildare, Ireland a Robin became my friend. He was so cute. He would follow me around the garden and landed on my shoulder on two occasions. He would land beside me when I dug the earth and pick out a meal for himself. I copied his song, as best I could, and he would respond by suddenly arriving. Nearing the end of one Summer he arrived with his Female and six baby Robins, they all marched in to the Kitchen, were fed and left. I often think he was saying to me ”Here’s my family”. Sadly, he disappeared the following year. I often think of him. We as humans very often forget how intelligent and enjoyable other ‘Earthlings’ are in our lives.
Oh, what a lovely story. Unfortunately, I’ve read that they don’t have such a long life expectancy as we would love them to have, that is probably why we don’t see them for much longer.
I have had so many red Robbins in my garden year after year, I think the same one in winter and spring comes back to me every autumn and so on. I wonder if they can live more than 2 years.
Same more or less. But he was delighted to get out of my bedroom when I opened the window for him. We are still friends but outdoor friends. I have no interest in the usual superstitions around robins in houses. It is a pleasure that a robin is happy to explore my place for opportunities to find food/ nesting sites but unless he pays the mortgage nesting is not on at my place! I like to leave him some fishing maggots or seeds. He flies round pretty quick when i come home from work. A bit of joy when i am weighed down with cares and gloom.
I live in Manhattan in a busy neighborhood, but have a tiny garden behind my 4-story brownstone. The last three days a robin has been keeping me company as I take care of the plants, apparently curious about what I’m doing and completely unafraid. He sometimes checks out the soil, sometimes just watches.. There’s seed for him but I haven’t seen him eat. Mourning doves have come into my bedroom — once one stayed overnight on top of a high bookcase — but their attitude was different, not interested and friendly, more that they couldn’t figure out how to leave. I’m hoping he keeps visiting, it’s lovely. In the middle of the city!
I have had a Robin in my garden for two years and watched him bring his chicks to the door to feed them with our his favourite biscuits ! He is very tame snd feeds readily from my hand. He comes when I call him too yesterday I was upstairs and suddenly noticed the Robin had come upstairs from the open stable door He was not afraid but kept hopping around the bed and my clothes I opened several windows but could not persuade him to go out. I even offered him food which he took without any hesitation. I finally arranged a chair so he could perch on it snd see the open window more readily. After going around the house for a good 15 minutes he flew out ! I was tempted to pick him up to move him but decided this may frighten him. This is the second time he has come upstairs when I am there
I’Im not sure what’;s going on, though I have blue jays that seem to like me. I took some pictures of a baby blue jay, and when he grew up, he warned me about a yellow jacket on my clothesline. I almost put my hand on it! The bird was telling me not to go near it, so I said thank you! I’m allergic to them, s I wen into the house. then, one evening around supper, I went into my pantry to do something, and a blue jay landed on my husband’s grill top, to satisfy itself I was safe inside.. Now, it’s Robins who are friendly. One was on my bottom step, and just last week I ad one in the yard, and he didn’t move when I came out. Normally, they fly away, but not this one. It stayed right where it was, in the yard, but stayed still. i wanted to see if it was okay, but gave it a wide berth, and it eventually flew off, so I don’t know why it stayed, ut it did
I feed wild birds, every morning, when I walk my dog I have noticed a robin watching me for several weeks, later this morning it followed me, flying from tree to tree, I had run out of seed, but it still came so close, until I walked near some buildings, feel really honoured that the bird was so friendly
I’ve never had a Robin do that, but I Did have a crow, or raven following me when ever I went any where, a few years ago. I’d bring my daughter to school, and the bird flew ahead of me to land in the small park up the road. Then, he followed ,e flying from roof top to roof top to land in the field next to the school, and stay there until my daughter was with her friends, and a teacher out to watch them. I went back home, and started a load of laundry, and was hanging it out when the bird flew down, and watched me! Now I’ve got a Robin that’s doing it, but he’s not as friendly as that other bird was. Maybe, if birds dream, that friend will come to it, and say hey, she won’t hurt you. I hope to get close enough to snap some pictures of any wild bitrd in my yard.
I had raspberries left over after baking scones. I noticed that a pair of robins were hanging around my cedar hedge (a pair had made a nest in there a couple of years ago), so I thought I could encourage them with the berries. I left about 6 on the railing. Sure enough, the female (only) came down and ate them. She’s been coming back for several days now looking for them. She paces back and forth on the railing and then stands still and stares into my glass door. It’s as if she waits for me to bring more! I’m not hand feeding her, but we absolutely have a food relationship going on. I’m so excited!!
How cool! Where do you live? I think I’d love your recipe for scones? If you wouldn’t mind? I’m CHeri, a 67 year old retired Spanish teacher in Indiana. We love birds too!
There is a feeder for Blue Tits just outside our window, they feed from there but Robins also visit, look through the window and wait for us to get up, they fly to the railing and we knock the feeder and food drops onto the floor they pick it up and repeat this 3-5 times a day. If it’s dark they sing for their supper, it’s wonderful.
A Robin always followed my husband in the garden,just over a year ago my husband died and is buried just up the lane from where we live and a Robin sits on his headstone quite often.
Sorry for your loss. They do say that robins often appear after the passing of a loved one!
The robin in my yard in rural Ireland is always the first bird asking food when I go out in the morning. He follows me around from tree to tree chirping at me until I go and get a piece of bread for him, and when I throw it to him, almost like a dog he fetches it. Reallllly cute. 🙂
Very cute! But it would be much better not to feed them bread, but food that’s adapted for wild birds, like birdseed. Robins particularly love dried mealworms.
We have had a Robin come in our warehouse and office for the last 2 years, it’s a noisy place but he hunts us out that feed him and he’s quite friendly, he will come in office when I’m there, I work nights and he’s usually around about 4am.
We have had a Robin come in our warehouse and office for the last 2 years, it’s a noisy place but he hunts us out that feed him and he’s quite friendly, he Emma will come in office when I’m there, I work nights and he’s usually around about 4am.
Robins are still shy here in Denmark, even though the southern European traditions of trapping small songbirds has not been a part of Danish hunting practice. You would have to go back some hundreds of years to find subsistence trapping of small birds here. However, the gardening practices are a little different, not least due to historically colder winters, and bird feeding in gardens was later taking off in this country, compared to Britain. Maybe robins that migrate southwards keep the wariness alive.