Winter surprise: a (short) bird story

I know many of us on houseblogs seem to like bird stories, I know I do. For that reason, I'm going to share my little tale.

A few weeks ago, we were experiencing record high temperatures for January. All the snow had melted and daffodils were popping out of the ground in confusion.

One morning I looked out front and saw of all things a robin! Now to me, a robin is a much better omen than a groundhog any day.

I don't know how many of you recall the scene in the film Blue Velvet in which Laura Dern talks about robins. I guess it made an impression, because it's kind of stayed with me all these years.

When I saw this robin, I said to him, "fella, you are definitely confused."

Weeks passed and now the temperatures here in Chicago are at record lows. This morning, it was 7 below zero and that doesn't even include the wind chill.



So on Sunday morning, when I saw this little guy hanging out in my neighbors yard by the holly bushes, I was concerned.


This is case in point why having birding books handy is a must for me. Steve and I looked up robins in our "Birds of Chicago" reference book and found out that some robins do actually winter here. But these aren't the same robins you see in the spring.


These robins are from the north- think Canada. This weather is balmy to them. I can sleep better now. I'm going to be keeping my bird watching eyes on him now too.