American robin (Turdus migratorius)
The only thing American robins have in common with European robins is that they both have reddish orange breasts.
.European robin (Erithacus rubecula)
American robins are classified as “true thrushes” in the genus Turdus.
The European robins were once thought of as thrushes, but now they are classified with the Old World flycatchers.
Behaviorally, the two species aren’t exactly alike, and the American robin is much larger than the European one.
However, if European explorers had really been thinking (or thinking the way I do). The American robin is almost exactly like another species of true thrush that Europeans know very well.
I’m talking about the European blackbird.
Now I’m a North American. I was raised where the American robin was so common that you often saw them hopping around on lawns in search of worms.
A few years ago, I was in London’s hide park, and I saw a very similar bird to the American robin. Its behavior was almost identical when searching for worms. It is roughly the same size and shape. In fact, I think of a blackbird as an American robin covered in soot.
If you don’t believe me, have a look at a blackbird.
The common blackbird (Turdus merula)
Both of these species are true thrushes and are classified in the same genus. However, in the public mind, I don’t think many people think of them as similar. After all, American robins live in North America. The blackbirds are native to Eurasia and North Africa, although a few of them have been blown to the North American coast.
Further, I have a hard time telling these species apart if I am shown a picture of an albino or partially albino specimen of either species. Strangely, albinism isn’t that uncommon in either species.
This bird is a partially albino robin.
This bird is either a leucistic blackbird or a partial albino one.
I have no idea of why early explorers to North America didn’t think of the American robin as an American equivalent of the European blackbird. But then Europeans though the red deer relative of North America was an “elk.” They called the actual elk the moose. They also thought the large bison of North America was very similar to the Asian and African buffalo but ignored its similarity to its close relative the wisent. They called the pronghorn an antelope and the mountain goat a goat. The coyote was placed with the jackals when the jackals had their own genus, and the gray fox and island fox aren’t closely related to the true foxes.
These early explorers really confused us with their bizarre classifications, but it makes sense. I seriously doubt that the average English explorer would have ever seen a wisent or a Scandinavian elk. So it is easy for someone like me to sit back here and call them fools for not having all the information that we can easily access today.
I suggest that early settlers attributed names to animals that were similar to European animals to remind them of the ‘Old Country.’
The American Badger is also another example.
Having seen blackbirds and European and American robins, I think the blackbirds and American robins are far more similar than American robins and European robins. The only thing they have in common is similar coloring. The American robins and blackbirds even behave the same way.
Bison are not buffalo. Indeed, there are European bison that look almost exactly like ours, although they didn’t live in Britain or any place in Western Europe at the time of settlement. But surely they would’ve known the European bison’s skin.
They also effed up the animal we call “elk,” which aren’t elk at all but are either a close relative of the red deer or the same species as the red deer. We also have the actual animal known as elk, but we call it moose. And it is definitely the same species in North America as in Eurasia.
Heck, for many decades, it was thought that the red fox of North America was a separate species from the Eurasian animal. We called it Vulpes fulva and the European one was Vulpes vulpes. It’s only been recently that this error has been corrected. And what’s really strange is the subspecies of red fox that lives in the Eastern US, save Northern New England, and Southern Ontario is believed to be exactly the same subspecies that lives England. It was introduced from England as a game animal. However, taxonomists still count this subspecies as unique, even though it’s much more like English red foxes than Native North American red foxes.
As an Irish friend described to me the blackbirds in her yard, I realized I didn’t know what a blackbird was. Found it in Google under “Images”, and said “well, if that doesn’t look like a robin, except for the color!” Clicked on the image, which brought me to your article, and was surprised to read the title, which almost took the worm out of my mouth! Enjoyed your article.
Lee
when I traveled to Scotland 7 times I watched birds daily an the similarities are not an accident european ”blackbirds” are american robin ”cousins” a THRUSH people considered themselves fortunate to have a blackbird nesting nearby as they are beautiful singers, when you watch them on the ground the little 3 or 4 quick steps then a suden jerk upright to view the lawn ,,both species do it though the blackbird is a MUCH better singer