Hand Fed Robin

I can't quite understand why the Robins in the garden are becoming so tame at this time of the year. Yes, they have been about all winter and would appear occasionally at the kitchen window, but now they approach us as we leave the house and are becoming happy to take food from a hand.

The four that are about the garden spend as much time chasing after each other as they do feeding. Sometimes one will actually get a hold of another one and feathers will literally fly. At least 2 and maybe even 3 of them will come to my hand for some seeds. As I mentioned previously, their initial tactic is to land momentarily on my hand and flap their feathers to dislodge as many seeds as possible, before returning to eat them. Although the focus in this shot is not perfect, I liked the movement of the wings.

I am still trying to work out the difference between the males and females. Apparently, the brown feathers in their head form a V shape in the female and a U shape in the male. However, is this a U or a V? From the few other shots I took it is certainly more rounded than the sharp V in a thinner looking Robin, which I reckon was a female. So chances are this is a male, although I will need to get a few more shots before I can be sure.

Looks like Tommy has competition!