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I recently took a walk off-trail at Papscanee Island in Rensselaer County, New York, taking advantage of deer trails to find my way through the thick brush. I was startled by an American Robin flushing from directly in front of me, not more than three feet away. A closer look at the location the bird [...]

If I see either of two things I officially declare that spring has sprung. One of them, my first migratory Eastern Phoebe of the year, has not yet happened this year. (Though I did see an overwintering bird way back on the eighth of January.) Yesterday I did see the other of my two signs [...]

Late winter, or second winter, or whatever you want to call it, continues its slow march into March. A week ago, a classmate eagerly told me about his sighting of an American Robin near his home. Spring, surely? Of course, one Robin does not make a spring, and I told him about the hardy individuals [...]

When I digiscoped the European Starlings feeding on hawthorn berries last week I also turned my digiscoping rig towards the horde of American Robins that were frequenting the same hawthorn shrub. They were struggling to stay balanced on thin branches in strong wind while scarfing down berries like they were the tastiest thing they had [...]

On a recent visit to Prospect Park one of the many wonderful sights was a nest belonging to a pair of American Robins in the Midwood.  Probably one of the most familiar nests to North American birders, their eggs are known well enough to have a color named after them and many individuals are acclimatized to people, [...]

I often find myself searching my memory as far back as I can go for the spark that started me birding. I know where and when I started being a birder, that bit is easy. A warm summer morning in the late eighties, a fretful baby waiting for a hernia operation and a long calming [...]

I work part time for the National Park Service (although, we’ll see what happens this weekend if there’s a federal government shutdown) and our visitor center is located in the Science Museum of Minnesota. Last week, I noticed a familiar site as I passed the museum’s fleet of vehicles. An American Robin was perched on [...]

When I was a kid, my mother used to recite a poem every time it was about to snow in Indiana: “The North Wind doth blow, and we shall have snow, and will will Poor Robin do then? Poor thing!  She’ll go into the barn, keep herself warm and hide her head under her wing.  [...]

With sun all weekend in New York City and temperatures north of fifty degrees Fahrenheit we can all be forgiven for thinking that spring is here early, and here to stay.  Not only was it warm and sunny but the enormous snowbanks from the recent blizzards have dwindled to virtually nothing, saturating the ground and [...]

Though it is a myth, of course, that American Robins are not around in winter, I still enjoyed my first robins of spring yesterday in Flushing Meadows Park and Kissena Park in Queens.  They were around in numbers, feeding on invertebrates found in both grassy and disturbed areas.  Their tut-tut-tuts when disturbed were music to [...]

I returned to the robins’ nest I posted about last week on Monday afternoon to see that the four baby robins are growing amazingly fast! They have to grow fast, as they will leave the nest about two weeks after hatching. The nestlings here are about six days old. They also have to be big [...]

The robin that I blogged about earlier this week is now a proud parent! Either three or four eggs hatched and mom and dad are busy feeding the hungry nestlings. A quick stop lunchtime today revealed mom incubating the baby robins, keeping them warm on such a chilly day: After only two or three minutes [...]

New York still languishes on the icier edge of the Ides of March, but flocks of eager American Robins have sprung up around the muddy fields of my neighborhood with an alacrity that even a crocus could envy. Though we tire of robins once less commonplace birds appear, these birds herald blessed spring. I was [...]