Saw a Robin Today

I saw the first robin in the backyard today. I think spring is here at last! I'm ready! Of course, today it's cloudy and drizzly. But that's okay, the sun will shine again!

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Ok, i know i am going to regret this, but are we talking robin with a red brest, there are several different species, and i think the US has a couple ?.

Alan.

Yes, Alan, they are a thrush relative. I don't hold much store by robins - they tend to show up in the strangest weather, BUT there was a killdeer calling as it flew around the barnyard this morning as I walked to the barn and that is a SURE sign that spring will indeed come. (killdeer are related to plovers, I believe)

kathleen

Is the Robin a native bird there, or was it imported ?, i have not heard of killdeer, but i know plovers, so i can imagine its habits.

Alan.

I'm starting to see Bluebirds coming around the farm. Saw one today and saw one about a week ago. They are tiny - almost as small as hummingbirds! And bright blue!

Regarding Robins: Sharon you can have mine!! They flock in my garden by the hundreds and eat seeds/worms from the ground! I have to fire a shotgun into the air several times a day to get them to leave.

:)

Dave, they are good at snatching worms! If I remember correctly, the bluebird is the Missouri state bird. I never see any around my house, suburban area.

Happy_Toes, doesn't that just break your heart when a neighborhood cat gets a bird? There's a leash law in the county, but I guess my neighbors don't know anything about it. And they use the flower beds for a litter box, YUCK!

I have had about 12 or so doves here all winter that just hang out in the flower beds sunning themselves. It so comical watching them parade up and down the beds!

dave, robins in flocks, i have never seen two toghether, now i know why, you have them all !.

Alan

indeed I do, Alan! I'll take a picture next time they flock in my garden. I can walk up to about 10 feet away and then stay put.

From the Audobon Society Feild Guide:
American Robin (Turdus migratorius) 9"- 11." Brown above, brick red below, males have black heads, female dark grey. Formerly nested in forest, breed only rarely in the Deep South, often winter over in northern cedar bags...gather in large roost often containing thousands of birds (this is a paraphrase of the text)

Killdeer (Charadrius vociferus) Robin sized probably our most familiar shore bird

the killdeer nest in our lanes and spend a lot of time working the huge puddles that we have every spring (some big enough to swallow tractors). They love moonlit nights and will fly around the farm yard calling all night. The babies look like little rolling balls of fluff, but they can out run a Border Collie!

We have bluebirds - a couple were at our feeder in late February, but haven't been around much since. They nest in some of our boxes, but more often in the hollow telephone poles. Before we moved into the farm house, we had a box in the back yard of the trailer and every other year there would be bluebirds. The other years, the tree swallows would take over. Now, it just gets stupid house sparrows.

New York State also claims the bluebird as it's state bird.

No, I'm not a birder, but I have a lot of reference books! LOL We do get rose-breasted gross beaks in late spring and indigo buntings - much brighter and flashier than bluebirds - at the feeder in the side yard. I love the sound of bluebirds, they have a rather wistful call.

Kathleen

Dave over here, the Robins fight and kill eachother off, they cant stand the competiton, in all my time i have never seen two in the same garden, i have seen a pair, but thats all, here they are the gardeners friend, and can get quite friendly, they will come to you when you work in the garden, they eat a lot of bugs, are we talking the same Robin here, or do you have one of the other species, i ask this from genuine interest, because a flock of Robins is a sight to behold here.

Alan.

Alan, I'm not sure on the species. I'm definitely no bird watcher - I just know the common name of most birds that I see.

I'll take some photos next time they flock on in. they seem to really flock in right before a storm hits.

Killdeer are the most annoying birds I can think of. In the summer when I let the dog out in the middle of the night, I can almost always hear one out there calling in the dark. I always think "Go to bed!"

I HEARD a robin yesterday, but didn't see it. I can't wait until the bluebirds and hummers come back. THEN I will know that it is truly spring!

dave, ok, look forward to it.

Alan.

First sighted robin here yesterday.
Doves have been around all this past week. Kildeer are great to watch running across a meadow. My thrill last Fall was to see a road runner in the area, as they usually are much farther east of here. Seem to be also getting wild canaries around here lately. Think my many ponds and growing trees are starting to entice
lots of special visitors here now.
Marilyn

Beep beep, Marilyn, i thought the road runner was a desert bird ?.

Alan.