On Wednesday, Jan 12 we had about 18~20 inches of snow followed by deep cold (below 10 F). On Friday, Jan 14, a flock of about 15 robins, all males, passed through the yard. Are they rushing the season? Not a great photo, too far away, taken through double pane glass, at too high an ISO, and cropped, but thought you'd be interested. The second photo of an old picnic table sometimes used as a bird feeder gives an idea of the snow depth.

[tpg2]

Finally...springs coming! If you take more shots of robins,
try to shoo them south, here to Pa. This winters begining to feel too long,
i'm sure you agree!

[slowpez]

Harbingers of spring. Looks like you could use a little spring. Not very nice down south either and we still have some snow on the ground which is almost unheard of.

[normhead]

I have a similar series taken a few years ago. The Robins were feasting on those little berry thing you have a shot of in that tree. They had them spread all over the road in front of our yard. SOme kind of choke cherry or crab apple I think.

[VaughnA]

Nice shots I like the 1st one with the chubby looking birds. We had a similar situation about a week ago. Very large flocks of Robins were going crazy for the berrys on our bradford pear. A few cedar waxwings were also hanging around for a meal. I've never seen Robins flock like that before. After a day or two they were gone.

[normhead]

Nice shots I like the 1st one with the chubby looking birds. We had a similar situation about a week ago. Very large flocks of Robins were going crazy for the berrys on our bradford pear. A few cedar waxwings were also hanging around for a meal. I've never seen Robins flock like that before. After a day or two they were gone.

We had the same thing that year, Cedar Waxwings on the choke cherries in the backyard.

[Colbyt]

Silly question but I don't know the answer. You guys don't have robins year round? I mean southern PA isn't that far north of here.

[VaughnA]

Silly question but I don't know the answer. You guys don't have robins year round? I mean southern PA isn't that far north of here.

We have them year round but the don't flock together like I saw a couple of weekends ago.

[tpg2]

Silly question but I don't know the answer. You guys don't have robins year round? I mean southern PA isn't that far north of here.

Nope...only when springs around the corner

[WPRESTO]

Dear tpg 2:

No. In our area (central Mass, near Springfield) robins are rarely seen during winter. BUT, there are areas on Cape Cod where flocks overwinter on a regular basis. Obviously available food determines their winter survival. Not chance for the classic robin's worm through that snow, but they will feed on a variety of fruits (seeds with soft/moist covering), as you can tell from the postings here. They travel in flocks, lingering long enough to clean out whatever is available in the area, then moving on. Apparently, success finding suitable food is better if they travel in a group. On Cape Cod, I think, they eat a lot of bayberries which are primarily a coastal plant. (don't quote me on the bayberries, that's a guess).

[tpg2]

Dear tpg 2: No. In our area (central Mass, near Springfield) robins are rarely seen during winter. BUT, there are areas on Cape Cod where flocks overwinter on a regular basis. Obviously available food determines their winter survival. Not chance for the classic robin's worm through that snow, but they will feed on a variety of fruits (seeds with soft/moist covering), as you can tell from the postings here. They travel in flocks, lingering long enough to clean out whatever is available in the area, then moving on. Apparently, success finding suitable food is better if they travel in a group. On Cape Cod, I think, they eat a lot of bayberries which are primarily a coastal plant. (don't quote me on the bayberries, that's a guess).

Hey Wpresto, thanks for info!

[WPRESTO]

FYI Confirmed, robins do eat bayberries. Apparently they'll eat just about any fruit in lieu of worms when necessary. They can and do eat the berries of both poison oak and poison sumac (spicy! and what an aftertaste).