This morning I am sharing four American Robin photos taken three days ago close to home. Each one of the robins looks like a borb in the snow.
American Robin borb – Nikon D500, f8, 1/1000, ISO 640, +1.0 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
This particular American Robin looks like the borbiest of all the robins I photographed that morning. In fact, this is the borbiest robin I have ever seen and photographed.
What is a borb?
There are several descriptions for the slang word “borb” on the internet. For me, a bird being a borb means it appears that the bird swallowed a ball. Sometimes that also means it looks like the bird isn’t happy about being a borb.
The robin above doesn’t appear too thrilled at all about being a borb. The photo made me laugh though when I first viewed it and still continues to make me chuckle.
American Robin in borb mode – Nikon D500, f7.1, 1/400, ISO 640, +2.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
This American Robin in borb mode was walking in the snow looking for buried crabapples. This robin isn’t quite as borby as the one in the first image I shared but it is borby enough that I wanted to share the photo.
American Robin head on with a crabapple in its bill – Nikon D500, f8, 1/400, ISO 500, +17 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
This borby American Robin walked so close to me that I couldn’t fit all of its borbiness into my viewfinder. The photo made me giggle and I felt I had to share it today in this borby bird post. The borby, red-breasted thrush seemed pretty pleased with the crabapple it had in its bill.
American Robin borb in the snow – Nikon D500, f8, 1/1000, ISO 640, +1.3 EV, Nikkor 500mm VR with 1.4x TC, natural light
This last American Robin with snow stuck to its bill was another one of the borbs that made me laugh out loud as I scrolled through the images I took three days ago.
I hope to find more borbs in the snow before spring arrives. My fingers are crossed!
Life is good.
Mia
Click here to see more of my American Robin photos plus facts and information about this species.
Just made me think more about the “Blob.” which could come to mean a well-camouflaged bird such as a nighthawk or Killdeer sitting on a nest, or maybe an out-of-focus distant raptor. Then again, it might already be a term applied to a wandering and unfocused blog such as many of mine– certainly not yours!
Love those robins. As a kid in inland New Jersey, I recorded my first robin (Life List #18) on February 12, 1949. Now they are regularly seen all winter up into New England. Very timely, as I my blog (oops I just misspelled it as blob!) last week was about “Birbs, Borbs, Barbs and Floofs.” (“Barbs” was my own invention for pointy-tailed birbs like Mourning Doves) I must find my photo of a Nashville Warbler flying directly toward the camera with wings closed, a mathematically perfect 360 degree Borb.