I don't know what's going on, but today I've noticed an inordinate number of robins around the cottage. Yes, contrary to popular opinion, a fair number of robins always hang around my corner of Ohio all winter—though they mostly stay back in the boggy patches and briar thickets. I see a few each week…but only a few; not a dozen or two birds at a time. Never this early in the year.
So why the plenitude in robins? What are such numbers of these red-breasted vernal harbingers up to, hopping and scratching about in the leaves and duff? The ground is fairly frozen, so there are yet no fat redworms available to be pounced upon and yanked up for a succulent meal.
No matter. The birds are here. Do they know something I don't? The weather has been relatively mild—it's 36˚F at the moment—and most of last week's snow has melted. My daffodils poked green shoots up weeks ago, but temperatures have turned more wintery since. Whether you go by the groundhog's shadow or the almanac, spring is more or less six weeks away. At least officially, astronomically—who knows when weather and season will truly align?
Optimist though I am, it neither looks nor feels like spring.
Still, those perky birds are here for a reason. And though I know better, it's hard to argue with a gang of robins. I swear they're listening for spring.
10 comments:
A fine shot that is, Grizz. For reasons I don't understand, robins have also been abundant in my yard thus far this winter. I was brought up thinking of the robin as a harbinger of spring, but it appears that they've acclimated themselves to almost any kind of weather.
Here the chaffinches are singing Grizz - always an early sign. We always say that our native birds begin their courting ritual on St Valentine's day (Feb 14th) - and today the sun is shining - so yes, Spring can't be all that far away.
George…
Though I grew up often hearing the same thing—i.e., that all robins went south for the winter, and their return heralded the start of spring—yet I also spent sufficient time rambling the woods and fields to know this was not exactly the truth. SOME robins, did go south…but others stayed around all winter, sequestering themselves in thick cover—dense woodlands, brushy tangles, swamps, bogs, fens, etc. Out of sight of most homeowners, perhaps, but not out of the region. During my forays, I saw them regularly.
I always have a few robins around here all year. There's plenty of overwintering cover nearby for weather protection and feeding areas. The island just across from the cottage is perfect. But the number of birds I'm seeing has suddenly stepped up dramatically…yet I'm positive they aren't returning flocks of south-wintering birds migrating back through. Those often number in the hundreds; I'm only seeing extra dozens. And they just don't look and act like returning birds, either.
So, a puzzle for which I don't yet have an answer.
Weaver…
Well, the house finches are singing here—but then they have been. And the Carolina wrens, too, but again they tend to sing a fair bit year around. So far I've heard no birds I'd count as vernally inspired. And that goes for drumming woodpeckers, another spring sign. But the gray squirrels, in an unmistakable procreative mood, are chasing around like mad. Skunk cabbage is in bloom. And the buds on the forsythia are, I swear, starting to swell. Spring can't be more than a month from commencing.
I've got American Robins around here all winter, too, Grizz, in addition to Eastern Bluebirds. I don't know whether the bluebirds are just easier to spot in the winter, or if there are more of them, but I certainly notice them more frequently when I'm out in the winter.
My naturalist told me that he'd heard that the bluebirds that winter with us here in the northern Piedmont are actually birds from further north, and that "our" summer breeding bluebirds migrate southward, only to be replaced by their more northern cousins. I've never heard that anywhere else, and I have no idea if it's true.
The robins (and the bluebirds?) seem to concentrate on berries in the winter (cf. earthworms and insects). There's a crabapple tree in my front yard that produces myriad tiny yellow crabapples in the fall. Flocks of Cedar Waxwings often strip most of the crabapples from the tree during their migration south, but always leave a few for the winter residents. I don't recall the waxwings here this fall, and the robins have yet to strip away the fruits, so they must be finding alternate sustenance somewhere--probably the noxious Asian bittersweet fruits that they're distributing throughout my woods!
With regard to spring-returning migrants, I had a female Red-winged Blackbird at my feeder last Sunday (February 3). The Red-wings always show up in February (harbingers of spring for sure), but February 3 is early, even for them. I haven't seen her since; she probably froze/starved to death for her folly.
Scott…
There are always robins which overwinter here—bluebirds, too, though I only rarely see a bluebird any time of year along the river. It's just not the right territory for a bluebird. But a mile from here, there's a more open area of scrub woods near open fields where I can find a flock of bluebirds almost any winter day. I expect, in this case, they're just the same flock I see in the warmer months along the field's edges.
As many warm days as we've had this winter, I know at least part of the time there are a few bugs out there for the eating. But for sure, berries, fruits, nuts, and seeds have to form the bulk of the winter diets. Certainly no redworms or nightcrawlers. I do know, because of what I've been told by a fellow who does some banding studies, that at least some of the local overwintering robins are the same birds that were here in summer. I've seen no spring migrants yet…but Monday is supposed to be 50˚F, so sooner or later, somebody's going to turn up at a feeder. Feb. 3rd had to be really early for a redwing.
A couple of weeks ago, after a rain, I looked outside the kitchen window to see probably FORTY or more Robins in the side yard! I hardly ever see them before spring in those numbers. We've hardly had a winter here really.
Jayne…
While this winter hasn't been as unseasonably mild as last year's, it's still not been much of one as Ohio winters go. It's supposed to be 50˚F tomorrow, then back into the 30s and 40s. And there have been robins around all the time, which is normal. But seems like I'm suddenly seeing way more than usual—though not this really big flocks of migrators, which, when they get here, often number in the hundreds. Don't quite know what to make of it.
I too have noticed some robin left-overs in the trees. I wonder what they're eating! We are experiencing a second very mild winter in central Illinois. WIth a high in the 40's today, we will be grilling the Valentine ribeyes!
Have a happy!
Debbie
Debbie…
We've been out all day—hence the late reply. Those ribeyes sound great; we did a seafood luncheon, and lots off running around, before and after. Have had fun, though.
It's been mild here, too. Not as mild as last winter, but almost. Certainly not a "real" Buckeye winter. I don't know what my local robins are eating, but I presume there's ample food since I see stuff they'd typically consume still left hanging.
BTW, it's good to hear from you. You've been missed, you know. And as per your last email, you need never worry about not being formally taught how to write. Good writing is a gift, a talent, essentially unteachable…and you do just fine. Use it.
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