Althouse: Robin in the snow.

March 18, 2020

Robin in the snow.

This morning:

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27 comments:

Fernandinande said...: Robins are my favorite bird because many moons ago we saw a despondent kid walking down the street carrying a box which turned out to contain a baby robin which his mom wouldn't let him keep. So we took the bird in, came home at lunch time to feed it (worms and wet dogfood - its crop would get gigantic) and it grew up and flew away and then came back the next year and was hopping around on the porch, semi-tame, with its unique, not-quite-right robin chirp. The End.; 3/18/20, 8:50 AM
JZ said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/18/20, 8:54 AM
JZ said...: Have robins gotten fatter? I’ve seen some that are obese.; 3/18/20, 8:55 AM
AllenS said...: I saw my first robin of the season, yesterday.; 3/18/20, 9:01 AM
rhhardin said...: I did my tax return, which is complicated beyond human comprehension, owing to Turbotax online knowing all the forms and computations and remembering last year's return, in two hours. A hedge against DSL going down and nobody coming to repair it.

Complicated also by Turbotax no longer accepting my browser so working between two laptops and hand copying numbers over. Which keyboard and which mouse goes with the current screen, always a guess.

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither. do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly. Father feedeth them, except for taxesl; 3/18/20, 9:07 AM
rhhardin said...: WTF is Scott Adams going on about. Mr. Rogers neighborhood for the modern man.; 3/18/20, 9:08 AM
JohnAnnArbor said...: Fun picture! Do you see/hear cranes around Madison?; 3/18/20, 9:11 AM
Howard said...: Looks like a Richard Schmid painting.; 3/18/20, 9:13 AM
tastid212 said...: what a saucy fellow!; 3/18/20, 9:17 AM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: Unlike gold finches, robins never seem to be having fun.; 3/18/20, 10:00 AM
Kevin said...: He's doing an excellent job of social distancing.; 3/18/20, 10:06 AM
Big Mike said...: Have robins gotten fatter? I’ve seen some that are obese.

Birds can fluff up their feathers to keep warm, and seem much larger than they really are when it’s cold.; 3/18/20, 10:13 AM
Big Mike said...: A small flock of about four or five robins showed up in our neighborhood in mid-February. Way too early! One of them is brave enough to come to my suet feeder (I use a brand that has nuts and mealworms embedded in the cake). No idea there the others got their daily ration of worms and insects while they wait for it to get warmer.; 3/18/20, 10:19 AM
Anonymous said...: Lovely.

Over the years, as more trees were planted and the existing trees matured in my (relatively new) suburban neighborhood, the number and variety of birds increased from the limited populations of robins, cardinals, and LBJs (little brown jobs - sparrows, chickadees, and the like), to the great chattering parliament of fowls that it is today. It's been a real pleasure watching this develop.

I missed the waxwing pass-thru this year, though. They come through around mid-February, and one has to have the luck to be looking out the kitchen window when they arrive and alight on the crab apple in a great blur of yellow, grey, and little black bandit masks, to pick off whatever remains of the desiccated fruit. Then they are gone, within a couple of minutes at most, not to be seen again until the next winter.

Seeing them always feels like a good omen, in the years that I catch them.; 3/18/20, 10:29 AM
rcocean said...: Why is he there? Should fly south. I read years ago, that hundreds of thousands of Robins die each year from Cold and Bad weather.; 3/18/20, 10:51 AM
Jaq said...: First question. “Why do you call it the Chinese virus?”

MERS - Middle East Respiratory Syndrome
Ebola - River in Africa.; 3/18/20, 11:33 AM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: No idea there the others got their daily ration of worms and insects while they wait for it to get warmer.

Robins are also fruit eaters. They can survive on berries until the weather warms. I have a ornamental pear tree that draws great interest in late winter from robins, cedar waxwings and eastern bluebirds.; 3/18/20, 12:02 PM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: Most robins migrate but not all. It mostly depends on the amount of available food in the area.; 3/18/20, 12:04 PM
rhhardin said...: Some Robins stay all winter in Ohio. If there's no loose dogs around to eat them, you can train Robins to come by throwing raisins on the snow. Raisins are poisonous to dogs though.

Blueberries work even better but are out of season.; 3/18/20, 12:13 PM
rhhardin said...: The Rush guest host is awful.; 3/18/20, 12:14 PM
Jaq said...: This time of year, the berries on sumac, that nothing else will eat all winter, feed the robins. The awfulness of these berries preserving them until this critical time.; 3/18/20, 12:22 PM
rcocean said...: "Robins are also fruit eaters. '

I didn't know that. Guess they just prefer worms.; 3/18/20, 1:02 PM
rhhardin said...: The daily Ohio governor press conference, preempting Rush daily, now has some woman sharing recipes. Cook with your kids. It was too much for the radio affiliate and they went back to the Rush guest host.; 3/18/20, 1:17 PM
hstad said...: Blogger rhhardin said...
The daily Ohio governor press conference, preempting Rush daily, now has some woman sharing recipes. Cook with your kids. It was too much for the radio affiliate and they went back to the Rush guest host. 3/18/20, 1:17 PM

Actually I liked the one with the picture of Jack Nicholson and his movie family spending a lot of time with them - "Here comes Johnny". LOL!; 3/18/20, 2:24 PM
rightguy said...: I love the photo today. It looks like an Andrew Wyeth painting.; 3/18/20, 3:20 PM
Kansas Scout said...: I might be wrong but my impression is, your photos have taken on a deeper quality. This is another fine shot.; 3/18/20, 3:35 PM
Jaq said...: "I might be wrong but my impression is, your photos have taken on a deeper quality.”

Grasshopper is learning.; 3/18/20, 4:42 PM