A male black robin defending his territory:
Black robins are very territorial birds. The male bird has a patch of forest which he defends against other robins, even during the winter. If you ever get to a place where you can see four robins at once, you know you are on a boundary between territories - and you won't miss it, because the birds fight like cats and dogs. The two boys will puff themselves up so they look bigger and meaner, snapping their beaks and spreading their wings. Then the chase is on: in and out of vines and around trees, zig-zagging through the bush. Suddenly the robins cross a line in the leaf litter that we can't see. The scrap is over.....for now at least.
A female black robin sitting on her nest:
Inside the territory, the female robin will build her nest. If she works at it, she can be done in just a few days. All robin nests look alike - cups of moss and straw stuck together with spider webs and finished off with a layer of white seabird feathers - but the birds never get confused, not after all that work! Sometimes if last year's nest was really nice, the robin will build her new nest on top of it. Emma and Blue have used the same nest spot three years running so their nest is getting really tall. Another pair of robins have build their nest inside an old black bird nest - very resourceful!
Young black robin chicks in their nest:
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