The man who called was seemed rather excited, and it did seem like good news. He called to tell me that he had spotted two robins on his lawn. They weren’t just hanging out. They seemed to be actually eating something. Could it be an actual sign of spring?
Well… maybe.
As many of us have discovered, there are always a few robins around here all year long. I don’t know if some of these are robins from much further north and our weather is downright balmy, if they ran money and couldn’t make it any further or they have staked out a pretty nice piece of territory and aren’t about to give it up no matter how bad the weather gets. But there always seem to be a few around.
Some take it as a sign of spring. The problem is, the robins don’t come with little signs around their necks letting us know that they are long term Nova Scotia robins or migratory robins. You can’t see if they are carrying passports. They don’t chirp with a different accent. They are just robins. You can’t really tell one from another very well.
There is a migration map you can find online, but to my my, that has a problem. It’s based on people sighting robins. Since there are always a few robins that hang around, again, you can’t be sure if people are reporting migratory robins or resident robins.
There is a good sign. The person who reported the robin sighting said they seemed to be eating things on his lawn. That would indicate the lawn had thawed enough that they could find something that wasn’t frozen under the grass and soil. That would seem to be a good sign.
It’s nice to see birds migrating back this time of year, but I’m not sure it means much. Hummingbirds come back the first part of May every year, whether we are still under a blanket of snow or not. Not always the best choice. You would think that something capable of navigating a complex route from Mexico to here would also have a way to check the weather and, if necessary, give it a big ol’ thumbs down.
So celebrate the robins. Spring is on the way. Eventually.
