I’ve already seen more robins this year than I saw all of last year. Bored by the lackadaisical start to spring, we hopped in the car recently and drove to the southeast corner of the state for a change of scenery. Along the way we saw robins everywhere—hundreds and hundreds of them. The ground was just starting to thaw so perhaps the earthworms were coming up for air, and that’s what had the birds so excited.
It’s always a relief to see the first robins of the season, even though the truth is that many of them endure winter here, we just don’t see them because they spend more time roosting in trees. In the summer robins eat a lot of earthworms and insects, but in the winter they switch to berries that they find on shrubs and vines.
I haven’t seen any robins in my yard yet, but in the morning I can hear them belting out their familiar song from the treetops.