Ruffled feathers. . . . . . . . . .

Spring brings the robins and from what I see in my garden, robins love water.

Bathing in it even more than drinking it perhaps.

The American robin is quite a large songbird of the thrush family, non-migratory 

here in North Carolina. It is usually the first bird to sing at dawn - I'm hearing it

 loud and clear these mornings. . . . . . . .and it often sings all night in spring!

Named after the European robin, that cute chubby little bird known as 'robin redbreast'

 in the British Isles because of its reddish-orange breast, the two species are not

 closely related. The European robin belongs to the flycatcher family and is much smaller.

Our larger - 9-11" - American robins love visiting the bird baths.

Usually easy to tell the difference, the male has an almost black head and brick-red

 chest, compared to the female's gray head and dull red chest. When wet like this

 visitor, it's harder to really tell!

Dipping a claw to test the temperature?

Not bad for a splash about in the Spring sunshine this week.

Drying off doesn't take long on a warm day.

Need to get to that itchy bit under the bill.

The American robin, a very territorial bird, is most active during the day and assembles
 in large flocks at night. It's one of the earliest birds to lay eggs, those pretty
'robin's egg blue' ones, in a nest of coarse grass, twigs, paper and feathers,
 smeared with mud, and often cushioned with soft materials. I haven't found a
 nest yet this season, but I have a feeling there's at least one in the back garden!

All photos taken on a hot April afternoon this week.