** Spring is Springin.**

[LBrown59]

Saw the first Robin of the year yesterday 2-14-10.

 

[NSBound]

It's snowing here today. And tomorrow. And the day after that.

 

[dave1949]

Saw the first Robin of the year yesterday 2-14-10.

They were probably refugees from the Carolinas Sure sign that Spring is near. Hope you are feeling well LB.
Dave.

 

[Tdog]

Robins must mean different things in different parts of the country - - Robins here usually appear just before a cold front invades. The ground crawls with them at times, almost like an ant bed disturbed.

Jack

 

[Patriotic Stabilist]

We are only about 50 miles north of Galveston, Texas, the ocean! It's supposed to get 28 tonight. I swear we had the hottest summer almost 2 months of 100 or over and now the coldest winter. We usually don't have prolonged cold in the winter and I don't like it. Told hubby lets go south for the winter.

We grew up in Indiana and were there till our 30's so we know snow, ice, and cold. Don't think I want to go back to that either, but this is to durn cold!

 

[MoKelly]

St. Louis Cardinals pitchers an dcatchers report tomorrow. Spring is here for me!

 

[jinman]

Don't Robins winter over in swamps and cedar bogs in the south? It seems I read that some place.

We are certainly having a cold snap with our recent snow here in Texas. It's colder here than in Vancouver at the Olympics.

With all the snow melting in the last few days, we also are having a mud season that we don't normally have. My neighbor got his tractor stuck in the woods and I went to pull him out with mine. As I was driving along a path, I started to sink also. I tried to go in reverse, but there was a tree behind me and the mud would not allow me to turn. I just left my tractor there and told him I'd come back in a few days to get it when it dried up a bit.

Yesterday, he called and told me he had my tractor parked in his driveway. I asked how he got it out. He said that yesterday morning it was cold enough that the ground froze and he just drove the tractor out.

 

[LBrown59]

*They were probably refugees from the Carolinas .
**Hope you are feeling well LB.
Dave.

*lol
**Feeling and doing good .
Thanks for asking.

Robins must mean different things in different parts of the country - -
*Robins here usually appear just before a cold front invades. The ground crawls with them at times, almost like an ant bed disturbed.
Jack

* How do you tell the native ones from the those that flew in from up north?

Don't Robins winter over in swamps and cedar bogs in the south? It seems I read that some place..

Here they fly south for the winter and return in the early spring .

 

[dave1949]

Don't Robins winter over in swamps and cedar bogs in the south? It seems I read that some place.

I just left my tractor there and told him I'd come back in a few days to get it when it dried up a bit.

Yesterday, he called and told me he had my tractor parked in his driveway. I asked how he got it out. He said that yesterday morning it was cold enough that the ground froze and he just drove the tractor out.

Don't know where they go in winter when they leave here. They are one of the earliest returning migrating birds here, usually still snow on the ground when they show up. We generally have 3 or 4 nesting pairs around, not flocks. They leave early in fall too, shortly after the service berries are dead ripe - which they will gorge themselves on.

See - it's not a bad thing to have your ground freeze If you have any serious ground freezing, don't snap an axle. Do you think it will thin out some of the fire ants?
Dave.

 

[MMagis]

There are robins in Ohio all year long. Most people just aren't looking for them, but they're out there.

 

[MikeInEburg]

I saw a robin the other day - unfortunately, it was under three feet of snow...
Mike

 

[MossRoad]

Saw the first Robin of the year yesterday 2-14-10.

There is a muddy spring at a local lake's edge under a high bank (about 90') and the robbins are there pecking worms the first week of January.

 

[MossRoad]

Robins must mean different things in different parts of the country - -

We visited my sister in Tucson on year and on a tram ride up in a park there was a Cardinal in a bush. The tram about tipped over with everyone trying to get a picture. My wife and I laughed for two reasons.

1. Cardinals are quite common in Indiana.
2. The team name of Arizona Cardinals seems to imply they are common.

 

[mostly_gas]

Not sure why one would think because a football team is called the Cardinals that they are named for a local bird. In this case the team started as the Chicago Cardinals then moved to St Louis (Football and baseball both Cardinals,was often confusing) before they migrated to AZ.

 

[irvingj]

We had several flocks (30-50 at a time, which we usually don't see) arrive here last week.... We were having some relatively mild temps --low 30s-- but I wondered if it was because DC, MD, VA and points south had been dumped on so much recently; we actually had very little snow on the ground here, certainly less than they did! We generally don't see robins until around March or April.

 

[MossRoad]

Not sure why one would think because a football team is called the Cardinals that they are named for a local bird. In this case the team started as the Chicago Cardinals then moved to St Louis (Football and baseball both Cardinals,was often confusing) before they migrated to AZ.

Well, thanks! I did not know that.

 

[jinman]

There are robins in Ohio all year long. Most people just aren't looking for them, but they're out there.

My little bit of research says you are exactly right. It seems that Robins migrate to where they can find food instead of any temperature related migration. Of course, in cold areas, there may not be fruit for winter food, so there seems to be some southern movement, but it is not well defined. Perhaps the reason we don't see them in the winter is due to their being in dense forest or swampy areas. In the spring when the ground thaws and they can return to looking for their favorite food, earthworms, they show up in our cities and lawns in great numbers. After eating berries and seeds all winter, they are looking for some meat.

 

[dave1949]

My little bit of research says you are exactly right. It seems that Robins migrate to where they can find food instead of any temperature related migration. Of course, in cold areas, there may not be fruit for winter food, so there seems to be some southern movement, but it is not well defined. Perhaps the reason we don't see them in the winter is due to their being in dense forest or swampy areas. In the spring when the ground thaws and they can return to looking for their favorite food, earthworms, they show up in our cities and lawns in great numbers. After eating berries and seeds all winter, they are looking for some meat.

I just did some looking too, for Maine. People do see robins in Maine thru the winter, especially along the coast. Some are robins from Canada, some are American robins that stay over if they can. We used to live near the coast in S. Maine, I don't think I saw robins all winter long there either though. It must be very forage dependent.

If they were around our lot in winter, I would see them. I see chickadees and titmice in the woods all winter long. Must not be anything robins can survive on in this immediate area. If they go even 150 miles south, it is a good bit warmer.
Dave.

 

[MMagis]

Perhaps the reason we don't see them in the winter is due to their being in dense forest or swampy areas.

I think you may be right. I always see them while bowhunting in Dec and Jan, but I'm in the woods. I seldom see them in the yard.

 

[Bird]

Saw the first Robin of the year yesterday 2-14-10.

I've read and heard in the past that some Robins migrate north and south, while others stay in one area year round. At any rate, I had not seen a Robin since last summer until the last few minutes. I'm sitting here watching a pair of Robins in my backyard right now. And one day in the last week, I noticed a pair of Cardinals (male and female) sitting on the fence. So I guess Spring is coming.