[Maine-birds] Newfie Robins

Curious what the status of the “Newfoundland” Robin is?

 

It was my understanding that Newfie Robins (can I call them NERO?  Great acronym regardless) were a distinct genetic subspecies coming from far eastern Canada, very dark birds and slightly larger too than your typical eastern robin.  Twice in Maine I have seen birds I would call NERO, both times they were small flocks (10-15) and hanging out together, not associating with our more typial AMRO.

 

Yet I see that Sibley considers them all a cline

http://www.sibleyguides.com/bird-info/american-robin/

 

I agree that AMRO we see can vary – one can see quite a bit of variation just looking at our local males for example and some get quite dark (and several times I have hoped I had NERO but then thought better of it upon closer examination).  But the two times I was sure I was looking at NERO they were indeed quite different and immediately struck me as unusual.  Maybe that was all in my head.

 

Seems like most of the old-school literature considers them separate subspecies, but then of course that was the way things were done back then – split everything.

 

So is conventional thinking that NERO are indeed a genetically isolated group with limited gene flow to and from AMRO, or are NERO just the biggest, blackest, and easternmost AMROs?

 

===============================
Michael Smith MS GISP
State GIS Manager, Maine Office of GIS
State of Maine, Office of Information Technology
michael.smith _at_ maine.gov 207-215-5530

Board Member, Maine GeoLibrary
Education Chair, Maine GIS Users Group
State Rep, National States Geographic Information Council


State House Station 145
51 Commerce Drive
Augusta, ME 04333-0145
69^o 47' 58.9"W  44^o 21' 54.8"N

From: maine-birds@googlegroups.com [mailto:maine-birds@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of AMF
Sent: Tuesday, February 11, 2014 9:32 PM
To: maine-birds@googlegroups.com
Subject: [Maine-birds] 14 Robins in Benton Sunday

 

Much to my surprise I saw 14 robins in two medium sized deciduous trees.  The focus of the robins in the photo is not sharp.  Are they American Robins or New Foundland Robins?  I would like to think they were traveling through headed for the Maritimes. 

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