Fifty Plus (50+) - Spring's a'comin': Robins!

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View Full Version : Spring's a'comin': Robins!


zonatandem
02-26-10, 10:29 PM
Been livin' in the Tucson area for 32+ years and for the third time ever we've been invaded by robins!!! They are not native here and only migrate through our area on the way to the midwest/northern climes.
We have a huge pyracantha bush trained up a high wall in our atrium. For those who don' tknow a pyracanha bush from a crocus, it's thorny and grows clusters of red berries that show off from around X-mas time into March.
For the past 5 days groups of up to 20 robins have shown up to feast on the plentiful berries.
One year we literally had a hundred robins drop in and, after 3 days, all the berries vanished into the famished bellies of them birds!
The fun part of the story is, after eating belly-fulls of berries they come to our bird bath, drink and stagger all over the place . . . yup the berries fermented in their stomachs,
Drunk robins are a sight to behold
Yup, spring's a'comin' your way soon!!
The bike part of the post: rode a 21-miler with some out-of-state friends, had lunch on the patio of our favorite bakery and the temp was a mere 68 degrees.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem


stapfam
02-27-10, 12:32 AM
Staying on the "Bird" theme- we have flocks of birds collect out on the marshes near us. They come the 30 odd miles over the channel from France and the first "Open" space they see is on those Marshes. Have heard of certain days when you don't ride across them due to the number of these birds. No fun riding on poop infested roads just after 5,000 swans have landed in the area for feeding.

Edit--Our Robins are territorial and unless breeding we only see one in our garden. For some reason they like our weather and do not migrate.

Dan Burkhart
02-27-10, 09:09 AM
We had robins here in the Toronto area in mid February. Don't know if they were back early or hadn't left yet, but we had a good size flock hanging around here.
Haven't seen em in the last couple of weeks since the snows came.
The ground has been bare here most of the winter, but it's white now.


miss kenton
02-27-10, 10:33 AM
I saw one forlorn-looking robin sitting on a snowy porch railing this morning. I think he jumped the gun flying back here for spring and he looked like he realized it.

waldowales
02-27-10, 11:08 AM
We had some which stayed here in the Salt Lake City area all winter. How do they decide whether to stay or go? Or, maybe the ones around here were from Canada or Alaska, and this was "south" to them? Also have flocks of ducks and geese here all winter. What's up with that?