Its back is grayish to black with a darker tail over white undertail coverts. The American Robin has an incomplete white eye ring. If you have a good eye and watch a lot of them, you may be able to tell that the only apparent difference between a male and a female robin is that the female s feathers, especially on its back and tail, are a bit paler. Young robins have speckled or mottled breasts. Adult robins in the eastern U.S. have small white tips on the outer edges of the tail.
Robins have a monogamous mating system and produce two to three broods a year.
Robin courtship consists of male chasing female. Once he has the object of his affections isolated, the male struts around her, wings shaking, tail spread and throat puffed out until she accepts or rejects him. The female builds a fairly large and somewhat untidy-looking nest with the male s help. As untidy as the foundation looks, the nest itself is usually a finely formed cup lined with fine grasses. She will lay between three and seven pale blue eggs.