Know about Snow birds

Know about Snow birds

Snow birds: Look, there's a robin in the back yard that pulls on a long and juicy-looking earthworm. Spring must be around the corner. Roaming around the back garden is an American robin, easily recognizable by its brown back and red-orange chest. The beak, currently used to hold that worm, is mainly yellow with a variable dark point. Some claim that the dark dot is a result of digging for those juicy earthworms. The next day, fourteen centimeters of snow and temperatures in a few figures. Have the robins left again? No, listen, there are a few of them singing in the trees there. Despite the drastic weather change, spring should almost be there.

Does robins really mean that spring is almost here? The answer is, it depends. There are ongoing investigations into robin migration. What we do know is that some robins migrate, others don't. They seem to go where food is readily available. They usually have a mixed diet of backyard bugs such as earthworms, beetles, larvae, grasshoppers and those cute caterpillars. This makes up forty percent of their food source. The balance consists mainly of wild and cultivated fruits and berries. Due to their ability to switch to fruit and berries, robins stay much further north in the winter than many birds. If the area has sufficient berries throughout the winter, the robin will remain round.

A driving factor in seeing Robin in the backyard at the end of the winter is the thawing of the ground, the arrival of rain and the earthworms that move. An interesting fact is that earthworms come to the surface during rain to prevent them from drowning in their burrows. The temporarily wet conditions give worms the chance to move safely to new places. Because worms breathe through their skin, the skin must stay wet so that the oxygen can get through. After rain or during high humidity, worms can move without drying out. As we all know, the earthworm is not a speed devil and therefore an easy target for waiting robins. The reality is that robins don't have to wait. They have both great vision and listening skills. You often see a robin jumping around and turning his head in several directions. This is the robin that detects movement of its prey, either on the surface or under the ground. The hunt has begun and usually ends with a win for Robin.

Once the spring has arrived and the Robin can now be seen daily, it does not take long before the breeding season starts. The robin is one of the first birds to lay eggs when the warmer temperatures return. Their normal breeding season takes place from April to July. During this period, most robins have two to three broods. Because deciduous trees only leaf somewhere in May, most early nests are built in a kind of evergreen tree or shrub. The robin will rebuild its nest for the following breeding sites, mainly in deciduous trees. We've probably all seen robin eggs, either in a nest or in a photo. They lay three to five beautiful light blue eggs. The eggs hatch within fourteen days. Amazingly two weeks later the young can be seen flying and jumping around. So if we do the math, a North American robin can have up to 15 chicks a year. It also makes no sense to lure a robin into your birdhouse. They are not hollow nesters. A platform that is nailed to a tree or shrub has a much greater chance of attracting a nesting robin.

The most vulnerable time for the robin, like many birds, is during the breeding season. The eggs and juvenile robins are hunted by snakes, squirrels and other larger birds. That said, the adult bird is also vulnerable, especially when distracted during feeding. The Robin has threats both on the ground and in the air. They will look for cats, dogs and snakes on the floor. From the air, almost all species of hawks, eagles, falcons and owls eat on robins. There are more than twenty-eight species of birds of prey in search of a robin lunch. Despite this, Robin is a strong species with a count of more than 320 million members. With these songs we will continue to enjoy seeing and hearing our first robin arrival of spring.