Nature Study Monday: American Robin

I was so surprised to see a gaggle of American Robins gathering at our backyard feeders this winter.  For me, and for many others, this bird has been a harbinger of spring, but the American Robin overwinters year-round in the Northeast (and throughout the rest of the United States).  My father-in-law originally spotted them and, like any red-blooded daughter-in-law would, I doubted him, severely.  But then I witnessed them with my very own eyes.

There they were--red-bellied, skinny-legged Robiness right in the middle of a New Jersey winter.  There was something about it that felt very wrong to me.  Robins spend their winters roosting in trees, rather than foraging for food on the ground, so we see a lot less of them.  They can hatch three different broods in one year, although some robins may not actually hatch any at all.  Few of the hatchlings live and even fewer make it through a winter.