5 things you may or may not know about
Rose Robins
- Unlike most Australian robins, Rose Robins do not generally pounce onto the ground to catch insect prey; rather, they often flutter about the treetops like a fantail to pluck it from the foliage or snatch it in the air
- Rose Robins often undertake regular migration; some disperse southwards in the springtime, though others head to higher elevations in the mountains instead, returning northwards or to lower elevations in autumn and winter
- Rose Robins spend the warmer months in moist eucalypt forests, where they nest in shrubs, often in densely vegetated gullies
- The Rose Robin makes one of Australia’s neatest nests, being a compact cup made from moss, bark and plant fibres, all tightly bound together with spider webs and decorated with lichen
- Rose Robin nests are sometimes parasitised by various species of cuckoos, including the Pallid Cuckoo, which is about three times larger than a robin!
