I live in the woods of Northern Minnesota, where birds, deer and wolves live in relative peace except when they eat each other. Years ago, house wrens built a nest under our deck and for several years raised their young as we creepily stared at them through the slats above. Well, last year, robins, which are larger, booted the wrens out of their nest and took over. It was still fun to stare creepily at the robins, but we felt bad for the wrens that did all the work building and reinforcing the nest over the years.

Well, lo and behold, a few weeks ago the wrens built another nest about eight feet down from the old one and resumed their egg-laying, chick-raising routine. Until today. This morning we looked down at the wren nest to see that robins had taken over that nest, too.

Something about the robins’ behavior reminded me of hipsters. So, without further adieu, here are …

10 reasons why robins are like hipsters

10) Robins wear orange vests. Male robins clearly spent more money on their vests. 

“I’m not trying to attract attention. This is just what I want to wear.” PHOTO: Dendroica Cerula, Flickr, Creative Commons license

9) Robins were really into spring before everyone else. 

“So I’ve been hanging out at this mud puddle. You wouldn’t know it. It’s new.” PHOTO: Seabarium, Flickr Creative Commons license

8) The robin’s song isn’t the prettiest one you’ll hear in the forest, but everyone knows it because robins insist upon themselves.

“Hear that? It’s in the chirping. That’s the sweet stuff.” PHOTO: Dendroica Cerula, Flickr Creative Commons license

7) Robins have chicks even though they move a lot and don’t know where they’re going to end up.

“It’s my body. It’s my life. You can’t tell me what to do.”
PHOTO: Flickr Creative Commons license

6) Robins can’t just have normal eggs like everyone else.

“I mean, white eggs were cool, you know, last year …”

5) Whenever sh*t goes down, robins ditch their kids. 

“Oh, hey. I heard some loud noises and it’s really got me out of my mind. Listen, these chicks are pretty much self-contained. You keep an eye on ’em for a while while I go clear my head? Might go catch a show. Don’t wait up.” PHOTO: Christina VanMeter, Flickr Creative Commons license

4) Robin chicks seem like they’re having a great time until you get there.

“Our phones are newer than yours.” PHOTO: Mark Turnauckas, Flickr Creative Commons license

3) Robins are up so early that you’re not sure if they ever went to bed.

“I’ll sleep when I’m dead, motherf****rs.”
PHOTO: Rasmus Bogoskov Larsen, Flickr Creative Commons license

2) Robins spur gentrification of bird neighborhoods.

“All my friends are moving under the deck. Rent is so cheap there, on account of it being a wren neighborhood. Other birds are so prejudiced against wrens. It’s wrong. Hey, where’d all the wrens go?” PHOTO: Len Blumin, Flickr Creative Commons license

1) Robins get high all the time, but are actually pretty good at coming back down.

“It’s OK. I can handle it.” PHOTO: Joby Joseph, Flickr Creative Commons license

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