FINCHforum

Has anyone worked with these? Just curious about your experience with them?

Hi, this link is an article written by a softbill breeder here in the UK were they are a native bird.

http://www.nativebirds.co.uk/index.php? ... &Itemid=35

It a great insight into the breeding of Robins.

What a pretty little bird!

Never worked with them,but i do know they are territorial(well the males are) ut they are great to watch in the garden and listen to.
They are also very brave and will,with time,be "tamed".I had one a couple year ago,a wild one,that i managed to get to eat out of my hand,they will stick around when they see me putting out the wild bird seed.If you do get one as a pet,with patience,you should be able to get it to sit on your hand and trust you

Thank you for you information...I've seen them on the web and thought they were interesting.

That particular robin is also featured in the movie Secret Garden (1993). I have a fond memory of the bird due to that movie.

tobyneilson wrote:Never worked with them,but i do know they are territorial(well the males are) ut they are great to watch in the garden and listen to.
They are also very brave and will,with time,be "tamed".I had one a couple year ago,a wild one,that i managed to get to eat out of my hand,they will stick around when they see me putting out the wild bird seed.If you do get one as a pet,with patience,you should be able to get it to sit on your hand and trust you

Yea, i noticed they're not afraid of people. I was doing some work in the garden not along ago, and a robin came and landed on the spade while i was standing near it. I've been getting quite a few robins recently as i've been leaving out mealworms for the starlings.

Dan wrote:

tobyneilson wrote:Never worked with them,but i do know they are territorial(well the males are) ut they are great to watch in the garden and listen to.
They are also very brave and will,with time,be "tamed".I had one a couple year ago,a wild one,that i managed to get to eat out of my hand,they will stick around when they see me putting out the wild bird seed.If you do get one as a pet,with patience,you should be able to get it to sit on your hand and trust you

Yea, i noticed they're not afraid of people. I was doing some work in the garden not along ago, and a robin came and landed on the spade while i was standing near it. I've been getting quite a few robins recently as i've been leaving out mealworms for the starlings.

Yes I have a regular one that comes for his food from the table in garden and he just sits there waiting till i put it out of there is none,clever little chap he is also see them in the woods and fields around me and they never seem bothered about dogs running near them or people,unless you go near a hedge they have a nest in,then they get very vocal!!

A theory as to why out of all the English birds they are so tame came about by chance, when they were observed following wild boar in woods.
It's thought they formed a symbiotic relationship with the animals over the years....Boar dig the ground for roots and nuts.and the robin followed them to take advantage of the exposed grubs and insects.The boar having disappeared they simply transferred their behaviour to humans, who also have the habit of ploughing and disturbing the ground for agriculture.

Wild boar were common in England hundreds of years ago.A number have escaped from captivity over the years and have established themselves in one or two areas.

Thank you...it is amazing that still wild they are tame. They sound like sweet little birds.

They are cute! Do you know someone that has them now Cindy?

They are pretty large too. From the pictures they look the size of white-eyes, but they are definitely not.

MLaRue wrote:They are cute! Do you know someone that has them now Cindy?

Birds Express gets them occasionally. Very expensive!

I saw them on Bird Express a long time ago and thought to myself that at this time it might be as close to a bird like a pekin as I can come. Then I saw another picture the other day and thought I would ask about them, see if anyone knew much about them. I still may consider white eyes someday, the European robin is interesting also.