European Robin

Breeding: Mainly from early April to mid-June on the British Isles; from late April to late July in Central Europe; from mid-May in northern Russia and from mid-April in the south; from late April to early August in the southern Caucasus region (Armenia); from mid-March to June in the Canary Islands; May-July in Morocco and April-May in Algeria.

Nest: A cup-like nest made of moss, grass, leaves and twigs, lined with fine grass and hair, and placed on a large mat of leaves. Often the nest is installed in low bushes, hedges, on grassy banks, rocks, or in tree cavities or roots. Generally, the nest site is situated quite low, not higher than 5m, but sometimes also on the ground under lichens.

Eggs: 4-7 whitish or bluish-white (in the superbus subspecies: whitish-pink) eggs with small pink spots. The incubation period lasts 12 to 21 days, about 14 days on the average. The young need 10-18 days to hatch out and usually it takes 13 days.

Appearance: The European Robin is smaller than the House Sparrow and is easily recognisable by the bright colour of its breast. The upper body, wings and tail of both males and females are brownish grey with slightly browner uppertail coverts. The forehead, sides of the head and neck, throat and breast are orange-brown. The belly is white, the sides of the body are greyish or brown. The bill is blackish brown, the legs are brown, and the iris are dark brown. The back of the fledglings is dark brown with brownish spots, the belly is yellowish-brown, and the edges of the feathers are blackish. The head and back of the fledglings just hatched have long blackish-grey down.