American Robins: A Beginner Photographer’s Best Friend

Sam the Song Sparrow (and his perky son, Sam Jr.) will always have my heart as my neighborhood best bird buddies. However, American robins will forever be my favorite songbirds. Whether they know it or not, they’ve helped me continually improve my bird photography.

First Meetings with the Robins

My love for robins began during my last year at my first apartment. Around my birthday in late January of 2022, tons of them gathered around the complex to feast on the red berries from the nearby trees.

They took notice of my polite behaviors around them, especially my walking around them and not through them to avoid disturbing them. At one point, they were intrigued enough to let me approach them closely under their branch perches.

I loved those robins, and it was sad to have to say goodbye to them. Years after moving out of that apartment, my encounters with them are some of my fondest memories from that era.

After moving back in with my family, I became familiar with the neighborhood robins there as well. In hindsight, they were incredibly patient with me and my curiosity, more than any other bird would have been. I loved getting close to them with my smartphone camera, but I regret realizing nowadays that I’d gotten too close for their comfort.

My Avian Photography Mentors

As my love for nature photography grew, the robins would frequently appear around me, checking to ensure that I wasn’t causing trouble. There were several occasions when a lone robin would show up to admonish me for getting too close to other birds in the neighborhood, such as the red-winged blackbirds.

In this way, the robins guided me to be a more respectable and ethical bird photographer. If the robins were silent while watching me take photos, then I’d passed their test of respect for the birds. This guidance paid off when my parents gave me my first DSLR camera for Christmas in 2023.

While having a zoom lens helped me take much better bird pictures, I understood from my experiences with the robins that maintaining my distance mattered greatly to the birds. Because the birds saw that I was doing my best to not disturb them, they would sometimes approach me on their own, creating fantastic photography moments!

In fact, it’s quite possible that the lessons they taught me (whether they meant to or not) helped Sam feel comfortable in my presence.

Robin Highlights

Our neighborhood robins have, for the most part, given me their stamp of approval. I believe that my reputation with them has caused the other birds (even the red-winged blackbirds, who are notoriously scornful) to relax around me.

Here are some of my favorite photos of the robins in our neighborhood:

Here’s some lucky footage of them, as well:

Curious Robins at Inniswood

As 2025 continues, I’ve had multiple trips to Inniswood Metro Gardens, a wondrous public park filled with many kinds of flowers. Inniswood also has lots of birds, including some particularly bold robins.

The robins there are clearly accustomed to being near people, and will often appear around me while I’m taking photos. They seem intrigued by how fascinated I can be by the flowers in the park.

The Neighborhood’s Feathered Protectors

The neighborhood robins have become mostly silent around me, which is a very good thing! Their silence means that they no longer see me as a possible threat to themselves or smaller songbirds.

Of course, that doesn’t stop them from monitoring me up close from time to time, suddenly perching right over my head to gaze down at me in stern silence. I’m sure that while they can sense my good intentions, I still stick out to them with my unusual levels of fascination towards the birds here.

In the past, the robins have been like strict governesses to me, scolding me for bad behavior and “rude manners” during my first attempts at bird photography. Nowadays, they’ve rewarded me for my obedience by letting me take excellent portraits of them. That implicit trust in me has been a huge blessing!

The robins will occasionally work as avian diplomats in our neighborhood. Just today, I tried to help a few teenage house sparrows escape from our gazebo. They were understandably anxious and didn’t acknowledge me opening a flap in the anti-insect net for them to use as an exit.

I stepped out, and one of the robins perched right over me on the overhead gutter. He observed me holding open the net flap, the agitated sparrows flitting about, and he remained surprisingly still.

As goofy as this will sound, I gave him a brief, worried rundown of the situation, gesturing at the sparrows and expressing my concerns. He flew off quietly, then made a sharp “cheep-cheep-cheep-cheep!” call when he got to the bushes lining our backyard.

Those bushes are home to many house sparrows. It honestly sounded like he was shouting, “You, parents, go get your kids!” Thank you for your service, Mr. Robin!

(Those house sparrows did eventually get out of the gazebo, thank heavens. They likely forgot that the way they entered was also their exit.)

I look forward to all of the future memorable moments the robins and I will share together in our neighborhood!

All Images and Video by Connor Brennan

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