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We saw the first robins of Spring today, here in southeastern Wisconsin. Do you have them in the winter where you are?

I had never seen them in the winter here. For most of history, our land has been covered in deep snow for three months of the year, and frozen for longer than that. But a few years back I discovered robins in one place. There's a park on Lake Michigan where a stream has carved a deep gorge, and the birds gather there, where water seeps from the dirt walls. They'll stay around when there's water, and I presume they find bugs in the mud as well.

Here's a photo from there, in 2014:

click through for more details on the photo, and to maybe see the birds

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From:

ysabetwordsmith

>> We saw the first robins of Spring today, here in southeastern Wisconsin. <<

Yay!

>>Do you have them in the winter where you are? <<

Not usually, but I've seen them stay once or twice. I don't think I've seen them yet this year. The blackbirds are back early though. My earthworms are awake -- they're making little hills all over the yard. :D

From:

pameladean

Robins reportedly overwinter on the campus of the University of Minnesota where there are heat vents making microclimates for them. I've also seen a large flock of them eating hackberries from a gigantic tree on our block, in the middle of February. I was very surprised. P.

From:

ysabetwordsmith

That's fascinating.

We do have lots of hackberries here. That and black walnut form the upper canopy. Sycamore is the sole emergent. The lower canopy is mostly mulberries and maples.

From:

pameladean

I'm in a much much denser urban environment, but am pleased and amused that our block alone has all those trees. Many of the maples are the non-native Norway, but there are lots of sugar maples too. Sycamore is a very recent addition to the boulevard (or tree lawn) trees offered by the city, so there's only a little of that. P.

From:

ysabetwordsmith

It sounds pretty.

From:

pameladean

It's really nice. Not as formally beautiful as the long arching tunnels of Dutch elms. But we know what happens now to monocultures.

From:

ysabetwordsmith

Eh, my yard looks like a mess, but wildlife loves it. I'll take a great horned owl over a magazine cover any day.

From:

pameladean

I love your yard. (Not really wildlife, i guess.😏) As people like to say about some houses, your yard looks lived in. P.

From:

ysabetwordsmith

It certainly is that!

From:

low_delta

I've heard that as long as they can find food and water, they will stay. That's cool!

From:

ysabetwordsmith

That's true of most birds, they just have different things they look for. In summer, red-winged blackbirds prefer the drainage ditches and pond margins around the area. But if they arrive early, they huddle in my yard -- which has water, shelter, perches, and winter foods like birdseed. At this time of year, all the ditches have is water.

From:

topaz_eyes

Hello! I could have sworn I heard a robin's call a week or so back (city in southern Alberta). Normally it's too cold for robins to overwinter here, but we had a very mild early February this year.