Saturday, January 30, 2010

Robins

It's January 30, why are there robins all around?
Dozens of them!
I do recall hearing a news story some weeks ago saying some study had shown that robins do not actually migrate very far. Instead it said that they seclude themselves in sheltered wooded areas where they can find food, stay undercover, and try to remain aloof from predators etc. Maybe bogus, maybe not; but their sudden emergence would seem to support it.

All the precip we have had followed by a few days of warmish (40°) weather caused a couple of foolish bulbs to pop, and a bleeding-heart in the backyard to send up some tentative shoots. (I put a shovel-full of snow on it.) Maybe all that water forced the earthworms to the surface, and the reclusive robins couldn't resist a mid-winter feast.

(Sorry about the photo quality, but the camera on my Moto Droid sucks, imho.)

1 comment:

Lora said...

I don't like when science contradicts my upbringing.

Your mom always said that the first robins mean more than the calendar date and I still live by that. I read something about robins not going very far a few years ago when I started seeing them way too early (ah, the independent internet research). Apparently they just go somewhere warm. It could be your attic, it could be Louisiana.

Now I still watch for the robins, but I wait for the third batch of crocuses before I put away the heavy coats.