{"id":109212,"date":"2023-01-02T02:58:13","date_gmt":"2023-01-02T09:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/?p=109212"},"modified":"2023-01-02T02:58:13","modified_gmt":"2023-01-02T09:58:13","slug":"american-robin-my-first-bird-of-the-year-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/02\/american-robin-my-first-bird-of-the-year-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"American Robin &#8211; My First Bird Of The Year 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>My first bird of 2023 was an American Robin, actually it was a flock of about 50 of them flying over my head as I got ready to shovel snow. I didn&#8217;t take any photos because I had a snow shovel in my hand and I only took my cell phone outside with me. My cell phone was buried in a pocket in one of the clothing layers that I was wearing to ward off the cold.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-109205 size-full\" title=\"American Robin resting in snow\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6825.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6825.jpg\" alt=\"American Robin resting in snow, Salt Lake County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6825-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6825-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6825-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6825-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6825-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6825-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6825-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6825.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">American Robin resting in snow \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/4000, ISO 640, +1.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>It seemed fitting to me that American Robins were my first birds of 2023 because I have a connection to them that goes way back to when I was just a little girl. When I was a young girl of about six or seven years of age I watched adult American Robins feeding their nestlings in front of me as I sat perched on a branch of a tree in my front yard in Michigan.<\/p>\n<p>I can easily recall the sense of wonder I had as I watched those robins tending to the needs of their young and how connected I felt to them in that moment. Watching them changed me. I know that, and that helped me become who I am.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyload aligncenter wp-image-109206 size-full\" title=\"Adult American Robin in winter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6860.jpg\" data-orig-src=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6860.jpg\" alt=\"Adult American Robin in winter, Salt Lake County, Utah\" width=\"900\" height=\"643\" srcset=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D%27http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg%27%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20viewBox%3D%270%200%20900%20643%27%3E%3Crect%20width%3D%27900%27%20height%3D%27643%27%20fill-opacity%3D%220%22%2F%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6860-200x143.jpg 200w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6860-250x179.jpg 250w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6860-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6860-400x286.jpg 400w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6860-600x429.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6860-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6860-800x572.jpg 800w, https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6860.jpg 900w\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-orig-sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><span style=\"color: #808080;\">Adult American Robin in winter \u2013 Nikon D500, f6.3, 1\/4000, ISO 640, +1.7 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light<\/span><\/p>\n<p>As abundant as American Robins are I don&#8217;t have as many photos of them as I would like in my galleries. These photos of robins in the snow were taken in February of 2020 as they foraged for fruit under some crabapple trees. This year there might not be any crabapples left by February because the birds have been actively feeding on them for weeks now.<\/p>\n<p>I think seeing the flock of <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/American_robin\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">American Robins<\/span><\/a> was a great way for me to start off birding in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>Life<em> is<\/em> good.<\/p>\n<p>Mia<\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/american-robin-images\/\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">here<\/span><\/a> to see more of my American Robin photos plus facts and information about this species.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>My first bird of 2023 was an American Robin, actually it was a flock of about 50 of them flying over my head as I got ready to shovel snow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":109205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[456,27,709,26],"tags":[4004,2427,788,4156,6642,5199,4050,4328,3844,4881,1048,8018,373],"class_list":["post-109212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-american-robins","category-avian","category-salt-lake-county-utah","category-utah","tag-adult","tag-american-robin","tag-first-of-year","tag-resting","tag-robin","tag-robins","tag-snow","tag-snowy","tag-thrush","tag-thrushes","tag-turdus-migratorius","tag-urban","tag-winter"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-adult-snow-mia-mcpherson-6825.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p11Mom-spu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":56110,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/02\/13\/an-abundance-of-foraging-american-robins\/","url_meta":{"origin":109212,"position":0},"title":"An Abundance Of Foraging American Robins","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 13, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Two afternoons ago when I left the local pond to head home I saw at least 75-100 foraging American Robins in some crabapple trees and on the ground in the snow.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Robins&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Robins","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/thrushes\/american-robins\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Snowy American Robin swallowing a crabapple whole, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-winter-snow-fruit-mia-mcpherson-2915.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-winter-snow-fruit-mia-mcpherson-2915.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-winter-snow-fruit-mia-mcpherson-2915.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-winter-snow-fruit-mia-mcpherson-2915.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":109886,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/01\/28\/american-robin-photos-borbs-in-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":109212,"position":1},"title":"American Robin Photos &#8211; Borbs In Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 28, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"This morning I am sharing four American Robin photos taken three days ago close to home. Each one of the robins looks like a borb in the snow.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Robins&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Robins","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/thrushes\/american-robins\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Robin borb, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-borb-head-on-mia-mcpherson-0018.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-borb-head-on-mia-mcpherson-0018.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-borb-head-on-mia-mcpherson-0018.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/american-robin-borb-head-on-mia-mcpherson-0018.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":56237,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2019\/02\/19\/more-american-robins-with-snow\/","url_meta":{"origin":109212,"position":2},"title":"More American Robins With Snow","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"February 19, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"On February 16th I woke to fresh snow on the ground and I knew I wanted to see if the American Robins were still feeding in the crabapple trees close to home.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Robins&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Robins","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/thrushes\/american-robins\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Robin on a bright winter morning, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-snow-adult-mia-mcpherson-4609.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-snow-adult-mia-mcpherson-4609.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-snow-adult-mia-mcpherson-4609.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-snow-adult-mia-mcpherson-4609.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":118714,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2023\/12\/03\/low-light-american-robin\/","url_meta":{"origin":109212,"position":3},"title":"Low Light American Robin","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"December 3, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"When I photographed this American Robin perched in a crabapple tree last winter the light was low, the sky was cloudy, and there was snow on the ground.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Robins&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Robins","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/thrushes\/american-robins\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Low light American Robin in a crabapple tree, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/american-robin-adult-high-key-mia-mcpherson-7372.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/american-robin-adult-high-key-mia-mcpherson-7372.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/american-robin-adult-high-key-mia-mcpherson-7372.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/american-robin-adult-high-key-mia-mcpherson-7372.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":78323,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2021\/01\/25\/winter-american-robins\/","url_meta":{"origin":109212,"position":4},"title":"Winter American Robins","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"January 25, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"There is a skiff of snow on the ground again this morning and it has reminded me that I should look for winter American Robins feeding on crabapples today.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Robins&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Robins","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/thrushes\/american-robins\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"American Robin looking for crabapples in snow, Salt Lake County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-6863.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-6863.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-6863.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-in-snow-mia-mcpherson-6863.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":53414,"url":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/2018\/08\/07\/photographing-immature-american-robins-in-a-smoky-wildfire-haze\/","url_meta":{"origin":109212,"position":5},"title":"Photographing Immature American Robins In A Smoky Wildfire Haze","author":"Mia McPherson","date":"August 7, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"While photographing some waxwings a flash of movement caught my eye and I spotted an immature American Robin reaching for a berry in a Utah Serviceberry shrub, I couldn't help myself, I had to photograph this young bird too.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Robins&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Robins","link":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/category\/avian\/thrushes\/american-robins\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Immature American Robin reaching for a berry, Wasatch Mountains, Summit County, Utah","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-immature-berries-mia-mcpherson-8960.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-immature-berries-mia-mcpherson-8960.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-immature-berries-mia-mcpherson-8960.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/american-robin-immature-berries-mia-mcpherson-8960.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109212"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109212\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.onthewingphotography.com\/wings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}