Flight Patterns: Friday, 7am-9am

During my second hour of watching the birds today, they were not resting for long on the electric cables, but rather flying around the neighborhood and alternating short rests between the cables and the neighboring roofs. This is, to some extent, a product of how they fly.

American robin in flight
Source: whatbird.com

This is a diagram of an American robin in flight. I tried to capture footage, but they were too quick for my camera. They flap their wings very quickly and energetically and fly in a very smooth trajectory. Not a drop of energy is wasted. I've twice seen them go lower to forage. They don't dive in; they approach the insect or berry (I couldn't see what it was) diagonally, as if they were flying regularly and simply changed the angle a bit to slop downwards.

I think they need to have multiple resting points because they can't stand in place mid-air and observe their prey. The hummingbirds in the yard, who spend a lot of time around the rosebush, are much smaller in size and flap their wings to fast that the wings become invisible to the naked eye. If the robins were to attempt that, they'd fall to the ground right away; too much weight, too little speed. The solution they found was to alternate short resting points around the street and electrical cables and watch the neighborhood for predators and food. If they see a predator (like yesterday) they fly away; if they see food (like today), they adjust the angle of their flight to target it.

Apparently, robins like variety and find suburban areas such as our quiet neighborhood suitable for their needs. Joseph Howell discusses their considerations in nesting, and it seems they are not particular, and switch plans according to the environment.