by Pa Rock
Hibernator
It's snowing this morning in my beautiful Missouri Ozarks, not a lot yet, but the ground is beginning to turn white. Peace abides and normalcy prevails, with one notable exception: six fat robins are hopping around the whitening yard in an apparent search for food.
Robins in January are a bit of a surprise, so I did some internet research to find out if this was a normal phenomenon - or a sure sign of the apocalypse. Apparently, according to the information I unearthed, the appearance of robins in January is becoming more common, with every state in the Union except Hawaii reporting visits from robins in the dead of winter.
When I was but a mere sprout of a boy, the first appearance of robins each year was the official announcement that spring has arrived. But this year they are out two weeks ahead of the groundhogs!
Last fall I was forced to remove the maple tree in front of the house because it was diseased and dying one big chunk at a time. That tree was where I hung the bird feeder that gave me so much enjoyment each winter. I was remiss in getting the feeder hung someplace else this winter, and, as a result, most of the cardinals, woodpeckers, and other hardy birds that had kept me entertained each winter are now down the road dining with the neighbors.
Maybe that's why I suddenly have robins. Did you know that robins are carnivores - meat eaters who love bugs, grasshoppers, and fat, delicious worms - and that they do not gather at bird feeders to fight for seeds. I learned that by staring out my front window and noticing what was happening. Did you know that blue jays - who do eat seeds and berries - will also eat small birds? (I've written about that before after watching a blue jay snatch a smaller bird at the feeder and then fly off to a high branch for a bit of fine-feathered cannibalism.)
The squirrels, of course, are still around and doing quite well, but I know they must miss the buffet that I offered up each winter at the bird feeder - just as I miss the entertainment of watching as the squirrels would hang upside down from a branch trying to pry the corn-on-the-cob out of its hanging cage.
The feeder will be back next winter - that's a promise. I will figure out a way to hang it on something outside of my typing window so that the birds and squirrels and I can all enjoy it. And hopefully the robins will show up and join us in the commotion!
"The snow blows white on the mountain tonight." Or it soon will.
Hibernator
It's snowing this morning in my beautiful Missouri Ozarks, not a lot yet, but the ground is beginning to turn white. Peace abides and normalcy prevails, with one notable exception: six fat robins are hopping around the whitening yard in an apparent search for food.
Robins in January are a bit of a surprise, so I did some internet research to find out if this was a normal phenomenon - or a sure sign of the apocalypse. Apparently, according to the information I unearthed, the appearance of robins in January is becoming more common, with every state in the Union except Hawaii reporting visits from robins in the dead of winter.
When I was but a mere sprout of a boy, the first appearance of robins each year was the official announcement that spring has arrived. But this year they are out two weeks ahead of the groundhogs!
Last fall I was forced to remove the maple tree in front of the house because it was diseased and dying one big chunk at a time. That tree was where I hung the bird feeder that gave me so much enjoyment each winter. I was remiss in getting the feeder hung someplace else this winter, and, as a result, most of the cardinals, woodpeckers, and other hardy birds that had kept me entertained each winter are now down the road dining with the neighbors.
Maybe that's why I suddenly have robins. Did you know that robins are carnivores - meat eaters who love bugs, grasshoppers, and fat, delicious worms - and that they do not gather at bird feeders to fight for seeds. I learned that by staring out my front window and noticing what was happening. Did you know that blue jays - who do eat seeds and berries - will also eat small birds? (I've written about that before after watching a blue jay snatch a smaller bird at the feeder and then fly off to a high branch for a bit of fine-feathered cannibalism.)
The squirrels, of course, are still around and doing quite well, but I know they must miss the buffet that I offered up each winter at the bird feeder - just as I miss the entertainment of watching as the squirrels would hang upside down from a branch trying to pry the corn-on-the-cob out of its hanging cage.
The feeder will be back next winter - that's a promise. I will figure out a way to hang it on something outside of my typing window so that the birds and squirrels and I can all enjoy it. And hopefully the robins will show up and join us in the commotion!
"The snow blows white on the mountain tonight." Or it soon will.
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