Day 16.055: Robin but not spring

A red-breasted bird in the trees above our feeders has not been a rare sight this winter - with a group of bluebirds visiting regularly - sometimes one or two, sometimes five or six. So I did a double-take at lunchtime today, "I think that's a robin!" and I was correct.

We are in the part of Maine where robins regularly live year-round and they are - according to Vickery - very mobile in winter. It's even possible that this is the Newfoundland or "black-backed" subvariant in the southern part of its migratory cycle, unfortunately, this angle is not a good one to make such a determination.

Since we have more than a foot of snow on the ground at the moment, this robin is probably not finding much bare ground in which to hunt for worms or other invertebrates, fortunately, they are also happy to eat berries which can probably still be found in the area.

Seeing it in the tree with the budding twigs, you might almost believe that it is spring, but a general view outside suggests strongly that we are still dealing with winter.