What Do Robins Eat During the Winter?

American Robin in a juniper tree

I have written about winter robins several times in the past two years. Because robins are widely seen as a sign of spring, finding robins in the winter is a curiosity for many people. Visitors are coming to this site every day after typing, "What do robins eat in the winter?" in a search engine. In October 2009 I wrote a post called, What Do Robins Eat in the Winter? That post is one of the most visited of the nearly 700 posts I have written. In December 2010 I wrote a post called, Robin in Juniper, and included a photo of an American Robin with a juniper berry in its mouth. Then earlier this month I wrote a bird devotional about robins in the winter.

So, why are folks so curious about robins in the winter? I believe it is because robins are considered to be insect eaters, and people wonder what the birds can be eating in the frozen north in the middle of winter. A second reason is that most people do not see robins in the winter even though the birds are nearby. Winter robins don't come into your yard in the winter because you don't have anything there for them to eat. The robins in your neighborhood are down in the woods at the end of the street, or up in the cemetery with the large planting of junipers. If you go out looking for them, I bet you can find some winter robins, too.