Bird of the Week: Robin

American Robin

Wow, spring is early this year!  It's forecast to be in the 60s all next week, which is crazy for Wisconsin.

In "normal" winters, the first sign of spring is seeing a Robin. Most people can recognize an American Robin -- the red breast of Robins is unmistakable. 

But, this year, I saw flocks of Robins all winter!  They rarely overwinter here in Wisconsin (at least in the olden days!).  It must be that if they can find enough to eat, they'll stick around.

Robins hang out in flocks throughout the winter and then go their separate ways to stake out breeding territory in the spring.  They're one of the first birds to start nesting in the spring and can raise two broods each season. 


Robin nest with blue eggs

Robin nests are made by the females out of mud and grass and have a deep grass-lined cup containing three or four blue eggs.  Watch for the broken blue eggs shells on your lawn during nesting season.  The parents dispose of them far away from the nests. 

It's common to find Robin nests in evergreen shrubs next to our houses.  They prefer evergreens for protection -- especially from cats.   A well-forked branch in a shrub or small tree is also a common place to find a Robin nest. 

But one year, a Robin insisted on building her nest on a tire of our old truck. The wheel-well provided good shelter. We couldn't drive that truck until the babies fledged!

When the young first leave the nest, they are very vulnerable to cat predation.  So be sure to keep your cats inside where they can watch the robins from a window. 

Robins are one of the first birds to start singing in the morning and the last to stop in the evening.   So, listen for them in the morning and at dusk. 

Robins eat insects and fruit.  The classic picture we all have in our minds is watching Robins hunting for worms on our lawns. They also like to eat grasshoppers, beetles, termites and other insects. 

In the winter, Robins live primarily on dried fruit, so be sure to have lots of shrubs and trees in your garden that retain the fruit all winter. Good choices are winterberries and crabapples. 

If you want to attract Robins to your back yard, here are some good plants for food and shelter for Robins: crabapples, dogwoods, elderberries, hackberry, hawthorns, sumac, serviceberries, wild cherries, wild grapes, wild raspberries, winterberries, viburnums, wild roses and evergreen trees and shrubs.

Spring Cleaning

It was 60 degrees outside for a week in mid March! That's crazy weather for Wisconsin. But, it made for a great opportunity to clean out the ponds.

Ick. Talk about pond scum! It really took some scrubbing to get the pond-scum smell off my hands!

But, it was so well worth it to see the clean ponds all ready for the frogs and toads. And it was important to get the water cleaned for the birds. The water attracts more birds than anything else in our garden. So, having clean water for them is super important, especially for the migratory birds. They really need water after their long migration.

Enjoy the photos!

Spring is here!

What a difference a week makes! Last week I was freezing, and this week, it got into the 50s and we had a thunderstorm -- in March!

With warmer temperatures and snow melting, it's time to clean out the bird houses. While I was outside, I heard a flock of migrating Sandhill Cranes overhead. What a rare treat to hear a flock of them. They're so rare.

And the Redwinged Blackbirds are back! They're the first birds to return each spring. Flocks of robins have returned also. But, the Cardinals knew that spring was coming. They've been singing for over a week now.

This is the best time of the year. It's so great to see the ground again and to hear the familiar songs of the birds.

Spring is here!

The Orioles are Back!!

The Orioles came back yesterday, April 30! That's one day earlier than last year. Here's a picture of a male Northern Oriole eating grape jelly at a feeder in our garden.



I heard a House Wren calling this morning, too. So, spring is really here.

For anyone interested in phenology, the Toads are really early this year. They usually don't start singing until mid May or later. This year, they're about a month early. Here's a photo of what they're up to in our pond. The eggs are the long, squiggly black strings.



The wildflowers are blooming early, too. Here's a picture of Bloodroot in bloom. It's one of the spring ephemerals. It blooms quickly and then the foliage dies back and the plant goes dormant in late June, only to remerge again the following spring. They're called "Bloodroot" because the inside of the root is red.

The Birds are Back!

Spring migration has started! I always hear the birds before I see them. The first migrant I heard was, of course, a Robin. But, they've been sort of overwintering here in Wisconsin the last few years. So, who knows where they "migrated" from.

The first true migrant I heard was the Bluebird. It always takes my brain a few seconds to process the familiar sound as something I haven't heard in 10 months! The Bluebirds first showed up at the end of March.

Bluebirds were followed by Song Sparrows and Killdeer. The Woodcocks started calling in the fields in the evening the first week in April.

Trumpeter Swans migrated overhead for a few weeks from late March through early April. We'd sometimes hear them at night.

The Phoebes came back on April 10. And on April 11, the first Tree Swallows showed up! Now, I really believe that winter is over.

A Field Sparrow called this morning. I love it's slightly mournful, but beautiful, call.

The White-Throated Sparrows should be showing up any day now.

Often, it's hard to see the birds well enough to identify them. But, their calls are unmistakable.

Get a good CD of bird calls to learn how to "bird by ear." Anything by Lang Elliot is worth every penny.