There are a bunch of robins (maybe 20 or 30) in my yard this morning. Is that normal for this time of year?
Robins
- Thread starter Boyd
- Start date
My wife and were just talking about this. They have been everywhere here too the last couple weeks. I don't recall ever seeing this many at the same time.
They are here year 'round. With warmer weather, they tend to get together where the ground is softest for an earthworm party. I past a house where you could just about see the ground with all the robins on it.
While this yard assault does happen every year Mr. Boyd, I've never seen the gathering this early. Likewise this Crocus I saw yesterday at the Doris Duke estate:
In Spring there was always a contest at Richland and Milmay Schools to see who could spot the first Robin of the season. Once one was spotted, the teacher would go to the piano and belt out "Wise Johnny,"
A Google search attributes the ditty's source to "The Instructor," the official organ of the Sunday Schools of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (July 1952: 87, 7). Imagine that, a time when teachers encouraged students to look out the classroom window! Johnny-jump-ups are violets, some species of which are native to the Pines and many others now naturalized. There is a bit of irony here in that pagans associated violets with the Earth-god Attis, Earth-goddess Cybele's pine tree, and seasonal resurrection.
Violets' young leaves were gathered as Spring greens along with cress and dandelion, but really weren't that palatable. The flowers are actually a delicious garnish, and when crystallized in sugar became an old-fashioned candy and cough drop. We were told that the reason the Garden State flower is the violet is in honor of Bonapartes' Revolutionary War role, specifically an amorous emblem of Napoléon's love for Josephine.
S-M
Little Johnny-jump-up said,
"It must be spring,
I just saw a lady bug
And heard a robin sing."
"It must be spring,
I just saw a lady bug
And heard a robin sing."
A Google search attributes the ditty's source to "The Instructor," the official organ of the Sunday Schools of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (July 1952: 87, 7). Imagine that, a time when teachers encouraged students to look out the classroom window! Johnny-jump-ups are violets, some species of which are native to the Pines and many others now naturalized. There is a bit of irony here in that pagans associated violets with the Earth-god Attis, Earth-goddess Cybele's pine tree, and seasonal resurrection.
Violets' young leaves were gathered as Spring greens along with cress and dandelion, but really weren't that palatable. The flowers are actually a delicious garnish, and when crystallized in sugar became an old-fashioned candy and cough drop. We were told that the reason the Garden State flower is the violet is in honor of Bonapartes' Revolutionary War role, specifically an amorous emblem of Napoléon's love for Josephine.
S-M
I have a holly tree in my front yard. They have started attacking it for the berries. At its peak there are at least 20 birds in it at any given time and my cars look like it's raining purple for a few weeks.
Yes. Although robins can switch their diets, robins are migratory, and the ones that we often see here in the winter are the Northern race of robins. They migrate down this way where they subsist on berries and the occasional worm that they glean when the ground warms. That being said, they are most often foraging in trees and bushes during the winter and not as obvious as they are in the spring when they are feeding on the ground. They can be seen in large flocks or in mixed winter flocks with other birds. Northern robins typically have a redder belly and a stronger eye ring than the ones that are seen here in the spring.
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