Woodland Robins

I see robins in our yard but rarely think about their lives in the woods.

Where are they now?

These robins were filmed in December but have not been seen or heard for the last month.  Birds can't store up fat for energy or insulation so must eat daily to survive. Migration also has the risk of finding food along the way. This is a good winter to be a hibernator. 

Winter Robins

A flock of about a dozen robins have been active in this seep fed stream for the last several days. Robins are not supposed to be here during December. While recording video I had time to consider their plight. I took this shot, recorded the scene, but what is the big story here?

A rough spring

Robins were briefly here in January with bright sun and warm temperatures.  Now that they are here for the season life has been tough for them. This guy is fluffing up to stay as warm as possible in the heavy snow on Thursday.  The temperature was 22 degrees this morning, let's hope for some serious melting later in the day.

Robin eating Sumac Seeds

The weather has been brutal on these guys recently.  Wind chills in the high teens this morning did not bring any relief. There was a brief respite on Friday when this image was captured.  Technical: Should the beak be touching the sumac?

Robins and Rain

January 10, 2013. 39 degrees for a high, currently (5 pm) raining.  The average high is 23 degrees.  Is it any wonder these robins are confused?  This short clip also demonstrates a basic problem with global warming.  The robins are frantically burning energy in search of non existent food.  This energy/nutrition mismatch is more serious than any icebergs melting, flooding a few thousand homes.