Tehachapi News

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Because we live in a more rural, sparsely-populated area, wildland birds like California quail are more common in Tehachapi than species such as pigeons, which are associated with cities and suburbs. However, we do have small populations of birds often seen in towns, including the familiar American Robin.

Though these large members of the thrush family are frequently associated with cultivated landscaping and manicured lawns, they can actually be found in many habitats, including orchards, forests, vineyards, woodlands and even tundra.

This time of year in Tehachapi, American Robins (Turdus migratorius) can often be found feeding on the bright red berries of pyracantha bushes. These ubiquitous landscape shrubs, also known as “Firethorn,” tend to produce heavy clusters of dense berries that attract berry-eating birds like robins, mockingbirds, cedar waxwings, and others.

The parking lot in the Albertsons shopping center currently has a dozen or more robins working their way through the many pyracanthas bushes that border the parking spaces.

Robins are easy to recognize with their rusty orange chests, gray backs and white ring surrounding their eyes. Some adults have more intense coloration with a blackish head and crown and others are paler. They are quite vocal and sing in short warbled phrases, though at this time of year you tend to hear them make a simple chup call.

Though it seems odd today, robins were once commonly shot for food and were reportedly cheap and plentiful in the meat markets of some eastern cities in the 1800s.

Although they are not one of our most widespread local species, robins were here before settlers — the Nüwa (Kawaiisu) Indian people of the Tehachapi area call them by the musical name chipipapata.

The likeable robins were the first birds to call attention to the harmful effects of the pesticide DDT. Large quantities of DDT were sprayed on elm trees in Michigan in the 1950s to control the beetles that were believed to be spreading Dutch Elm disease. The DDT-covered leaves then dropped to the ground and were processed by earthworms, one of the favorite foods of robins.

In fact, the old expression “The early bird gets the worm” was most likely coined to describe the success of a robin catching earthworms for breakfast. As the robins ate DDT-laced earthworms, they died by the thousands and were the first observed casualties of DDT’s accumulation in the environment.

After DDT was banned in North America, their numbers recovered and robin populations seem healthy today. They continue to be regarded as harbingers of spring in the eastern United States, hence the expression “One robin doesn’t make a spring.”

True, but many robins can indicate the onset of spring and are a pleasure to watch even in February.
Have a good week.