They may be showing up in places where you can easily spot them now, but it’s a myth that they aren’t around in the winter (you may already know this, but I thought it’s something interesting to include here).
According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, American Robins don’t fly South in the winter, they just change their habits and so we aren’t as likely to notice them.
FWIW, I see robins around here (Minneapolis) all winter.
NIH says that the Red-winged Blackbird is a more reliable predictor.
Myth Busted: The old wives’ tale is that a robin is the first sign of spring. As the myth goes, all robins migrate south for the winter to avoid the cold, returning in the early spring. However, American Robins are adaptable birds, comfortable in all sorts of habitats across North America. While most robins do migrate at least a little ways south in search of food, robins can endure tundra cold quite well. American Robins can be found across the United States all winter long. Robins not making a trip south will typically hide in forests and other wooded areas as protection from the elements, searching for food when the ground is less frozen.
If you’re looking for a bird to help forecast the weather, the Red-winged Blackbird is a more reliable predictor. They routinely fly north the first few weeks of March, just in time for spring.
Totally. I grew up hearing about robins as the sign of spring, so when I started noticing them all winter long in my twenties, well, it wasn’t the first nor the last time I was disappointed in the knowledge passed down by my elders!
I didn’t know about red-winged blackbirds as a sign. We have cardinals and blue jays and so many others all winter. Even red-bellied woodpeckers lately, which isn’t traditionally normal here. And this year, Carolina wrens.
To me, the best reliable signs of spring are the return of all the warblers (American redstarts, yellow-throated, and so on), and the return of the birdsong (versus just their regular communications). That last makes us open up the windows even when it’s still too cold
Hey, if we’re getting pedantic about it, the Ambassador Bridge is oriented nearly north-south with Canada on the southern end. Maybe this robin flew north for the winter.
Reading that article sent me to look up Chicken Little…
The name “Chicken Little” – and the fable’s central phrase, The sky is falling! – have been applied to people accused of being unreasonably afraid, or those trying to incite an unreasonable fear in those around them.
Like the roosters in the SA article?
Recordings from Chicken Big Brother 2.0 revealed that males sometimes made calls for selfish reasons. The birds monitored the danger to themselves and their rivals and were more likely to call if they could both minimize their own risk and increase a rival’s. A male calls more often if he is safe under a bush and his rival is out in the open, at risk of being picked off by a swooping predator. If the rooster is lucky, he will protect his girl, and another guy will suffer the consequences.
I may be reading too much into it, but just thinking about old folk tales and folk knowledge from way back, I would imagine people watched animals closely and probably had more understanding than we may give them (the people of the past, that is) credit for.
