Winter Robins

I've never seen so many robins in the wintertime. Several hundred were in my back yard at one time in late December. The last few mornings have brought five to ten robins to eat snow and seeds next to the sheltered black raspberry bushes where a small amount of snow remains. This morning the robins were joined by a sizable flock of blackbirds and a few redbirds.

Our place is blessed with many songbirds. Once we had a guest from western Kansas visit us in late May. The early morning weather was warm and her bedroom windows were open. My friend came out to breakfast saying that it was a pure delight to hear the vibrant songs of so many birds! She said that never happened where she lived.

Two bad memories of birds distress me in my old age. The highly talented mocking birds frequently sang their melodious songs from a nearby electric pole when our children were babies. During one naptime, one sang so long and loudly that I was afraid he would wake the baby, so I chased him away. I have been very sad that no other mocking bird has returned in the past 30+ years.

The second bad memory is of the birds who plagued our cherry tree. We had lots of robins, bluejays, sparrows, blackbirds, etc. who ate the ripe red cherries and that I used to chase away. But that day one rare Baltimore Oriole was with the other common birds--and I didn't see him. I ran with a BB gun into the back yard--running, shouting loudly, and firing at the same time. Unfortunately, the beautiful yellow and black Oriole was the only bird that was hit, and fell out of the cherry tree to the ground before I reached it. I have been sick about my error ever since.