Poetry Monday: Robin Red Breast

It's Poetry Monday, and this week's topic, provided by Delores, is . . . ROBIN RED BREAST.

Join Delores, Mother Owl and me in writing about one of the better known birds of North America and Europe.

You can leave your poem in the comments, or, if you post on your blog, please leave a comment so we can find you.

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In doing a bit of research for this week's poem, I found that the original "robin red breast" is the European robin, a member of the Old World flycatcher family.

It looks quite different from the red-breasted American robin that we see in North America, which is a member of the thrush family. Where the European robin is tiny and cute, the American robin is more robust and stocky.

European robin

North American robin (male)

(Both pictures scavanged, with thanks, from Wikipedia)



Last week I saw our first robins, who have just returned from warmer parts of the continent, and happily I was able to take a couple of pictures. I wanted to capture how nondescript the back of this bird is, and how bright its front is. Hopefully you can see that here:

Back:

He blends in very well with last year's dead leaves and dormant weed-lawn (which is different from a grass-lawn, as you probably guessed).

Front:

It's so much easier to see him from the front (and even though there IS some green in this shot, it's not grass either, it's moss. Tsk tsk. The Donkey household needs a big bag of grass seed and about a month of vacation time to plant a new back lawn.)

And here is my offering for this week:


Oh-Oh

O sturdy little robin
With chest so bright and red
Why do you stand and stare around
And tilt your little head?

O now I think I know why
And knowing makes me squirm
As suddenly you wield your beak
And grab a big fat worm

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Why, yes, I am a bit squeamish about watching Nature's children eat other Nature's children, when the "others" are still moving around. Bleh. But . . . everybody's gotta eat.

I almost forgot. Here's an audio clip for the European robin, ten minutes' worth (!) if you like :)

And here's an audio clip for the North American robin, clocking in at one minute forty seconds:

And that's all I have to say about robins 😀


Wishing everyone a great week, with more of the birdsong and less of the eating-live-prey kinds of situations . . .

It's my turn to suggest a topic for next week, so here it is:  SHOES . . . . . .

Good luck!