Where Do Robins Go in Winter? American Robin Migration

Do robins really fly south?

The American robin is a partial migrant. That means some populations migrate and others do not, and even within one area some birds leave while others stay.

Robins that breed in the far north, in Alaska, most of Canada and the northern edge of the Great Lakes region, cannot find enough food in deep snow, so most of them head south in fall. Robins breeding farther south, across much of the United States, often stay all year or move only short distances.

In winter, robins can be found from southern Canada and coastal Alaska south through almost all of the lower 48 states to Mexico. Winter counts by volunteer birdwatchers regularly find robins in every US state outside Hawaii, with the largest numbers in the South.

Distances vary a lot. One tracking study found that robins tagged in Alaska traveled about three and a half times farther between seasons than robins tagged in Massachusetts.

Where do migrating robins go?

Migrating robins head mainly for the southern United States: the Southeast, the Gulf Coast states, Texas and California, with some reaching Mexico. Large flocks gather wherever fruit is plentiful, and the exact places change from year to year with the berry crop.

At night, wintering robins gather in communal roosts in dense trees, swamps and thickets. Some roosts hold thousands of birds, and the morning departure of a large roost can be spectacular. During the day, the flocks break up into smaller groups that search for fruit.

Robins often travel in loose flocks during the day, while many other songbirds migrate at night. They are flexible, short-notice travelers rather than birds that follow a fixed route.

What do robins eat in winter?

Winter is when robins change their diet the most. Earthworms and insects are mostly out of reach when the ground is frozen or covered in snow, so robins switch to fruit that stays on plants through the cold months:

• Holly, juniper and cedar berries
• Sumac, dogwood and hawthorn fruit
• Crabapples and ornamental fruit trees
• Mountain ash (rowan) and winterberry

Because fruit grows in patches, winter robins stop defending territories and travel together. When a mild spell thaws the ground, they quickly return to lawns and fields to probe for worms, sometimes even in the middle of winter. You can read more about their hunting technique in how robins find worms.

Robins cope with cold better than many people expect. They fluff out their feathers to trap a layer of warm air, which makes them look round and plump on frosty mornings, and they shelter together in dense evergreens at night. The real danger is not cold itself but a long freeze or deep snow that covers or exhausts the fruit supply, which can push flocks farther south in the middle of winter.

Why do people think robins leave?

For generations, people have treated the first robin of spring as a sign that winter is over. The robin really is easier to see in spring, but for reasons that have little to do with migration:

• Behavior change. In winter, robins feed on berries in trees and woods instead of hopping across lawns.
• Silence. Robins rarely sing in winter. In late winter, males start singing again, often well before dawn.
• Location. Winter flocks move around and favor sheltered woods, swamps and river valleys rather than gardens.

So the “first robin of spring” may have spent the whole winter a few miles away.

When do robins come back?

In spring, migrating robins move north as the weather warms, generally from February to April. Spring arrivals tend to track rising temperatures: robins push north roughly as average daily temperatures climb to a few degrees above freezing, when the ground thaws and earthworms come back near the surface.

Males usually return first and start claiming territories with song. Females follow, and nest building begins soon after, often in April in the northern states. In the South, robins may begin nesting in March.

Do robins return to the same place?

Many seem to. Banding records suggest that adult robins often return to the same breeding area, and sometimes the same yard, year after year. Where they spend the winter is much less fixed, because they follow the fruit crop.

If you see robins in your area in December or January, you are watching birds that have chosen to stay. For more on how birds spend their nights, especially in cold weather, see do birds sleep in their nests?. And for birds that undertake truly vast journeys, see the longest animal migrations.