Laura Erickson's For the Birds

This abundant backyard bird, the state bird of Connecticut, Michigan, and Wisconsin, is treasured for its song and its seemingly confiding way of nesting on our houses. Those are also the two factors that make robins unpopular in some situations—they start singing well before dawn when some people don’t appreciate being awakened, and when they nest near porches, they often dive-bomb perceived predators, including people who think they own that property. But their lovely song and homey habits almost always offset any annoyance they might cause.

In spring and early summer, robins start singing long before dawn. A couple of times, I’ve pointed my microphone toward where one of my local robins does most of his singing and left the recorder on all night long to catch the entire first pre-dawn singing bout from the very start. I did this to catch the May 9, 2022 song bout that started at 3:42 am and the May 11, 2022 song bout that started at 3:26 am.

Is a robin repeatedly flying into your window, as if shadowboxing its reflection? See how to deal with this problem

How do you distinguish between the first robin of spring and the last robin of winter? Laura explains on this blog post.