Michigan State Bird: Robin

Adopted in 1931.

After the robin was favored in a Michigan Audubon Society contest to choose a state bird, the Michigan legislature made it official. Proclaiming the poll in which 200,000 votes were cast "widely and generally conducted," House Concurrent Resolution 30 of 1931 designated the robin as Michigan's state bird. Legislators called the robin "the best known and best loved of all the birds in the State of Michigan."

Familiar in the summertime throughout North America, the American Robin is seen from Alaska to Virginia. Most people do not know that many Robins spend the entire winter in New England. They roost among the evergreens in the swamps where they feed on winter berries.

Identification

• Length: 8.5 inches
• Black to dark gray head
• Broken eye ring
• Dull red breast and belly
• White undertail coverts
• Gray upperparts
• Streaked throat
• Thin yellow bill
• Sexes similar-female somewhat paler
• Winter plumage is somewhat paler than Summer plumage
• Juveniles have spotted, whiter breasts
• Common in residential areas where it often forages on lawns
• Often sings very early in morning
• Often found in large flocks outside of breeding season