More and More Robins Arriving Daily
"The robins were everywhere this morning."
Spring Arrivals
As days get longer and warm temperatures melt snowcover, look for signs that robins are switching from their winter diet of berries to their spring diet of earthworms. When male robins arrive, the first thing they do is claim a territory. Walk around your neighborhood and notice where a robin could find what it needs - water for bathing/drinking, earthworms and insects for eating, shelter from predators, and a safe place for nest building. Keep listening for their territorial songs.
From Minneapolis, MN: James exclaimed: “The robins were everywhere this morning. Taking baths in the puddles from melting snow. Then flying up to rest on garage and house roofs and taking sips of water from the melting snow. Even waiting patiently to see if they could come inside for a bit.” (03/10/2019)
From Colorado Springs, CO: Carin commented: ”We just had the epic storm here in Colorado Springs. My one lone overwintering Robin now has company. I have had 4 Robins at one time at my feeder. With the storm, they would eat, then fly up into the rafters of the patio and hunker down. The wind gusts were blowing the birds off the feeder. I put out seed raisins and dried worms. This morning I went out and was greeted by my overwintering guy softly warbling as I filled the feeder. When I was inside he flew to the feeder…looked at me a minute and started to chow down in my offerings.” (03/14/2019)
From Bellefonte, PA: Tim noted: “We hadn’t seen a single robin yet this year, until today, when I looked out our kitchen window and saw not just “a” robin, but rather a small “wave” of (at least ten) robins in our back yard. We’ve had a good bit of snow (a remainder of which can be seen in the included photo) and cold of late, but today things thawed out a bit. We’d made it into the low 40s by noon. At 5:15 PM, when I first spotted the robins, it was overcast and the temperature was back down to about 36°F. Maybe Spring is on its way after all.” (03/09/2019)
From Town of Manheim, NY: Matthew recorded: “Last night and this morning I saw the weather radar at Binghamton, NY light up with the bird migration pattern…I could hear what I believe was a lot of geese flying overhead at midnight. I do occasionally hear birds flying overhead late at night, especially killdeer…I got up this morning and there were blackbirds everywhere. I did a survey of rural Dolgeville (Town of Manheim) and found multiple flocks…In fact, there are robins everywhere…” (03/15/2019)
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