Winter Robins

[The Grebe]

I may have asked this before, several years ago, but what do winter Robins eat besides those dried out little red apples? Seems like a steady diet of those things all winter long, wouldn't get the job done?

We seen 6-8 of the winter birds the other day and I seen a couple more today. There are certain areas where I see them all winter long. The Camden area in Mpls. and the Merriam Park area over in St. Paul.

I'm wondering what do they eat to vary their diet and also, why don't they ever come to feeders? Don't they eat seeds? I seen one swallow a large, whole strawberry from our garden once.

[Steve Foss]

I've never seen robins eat any type of seed. Also, in winter in the north, I've never seen them eat anything but berries and fruit. Mountain ash and crabapples are by far the most prevalent winter robin food in the Upper Midwest. I suspect it's not only because of somewhat warmer winters, but because human development and the popularity of ornamental fruit/berry tree plantings is providing a winter smorgasbord for them. I often find robins in with waxwings eating that stuff in cold weather. Seems to be enough to sustain them for the whole winter.

We've picked and frozen surplus crabapples and berries before, and put them out on our feeders in winter. Never had either waxwings or robins come in for them, but probably because they didn't see them.

[The Grebe]

You know, the only things I see around the neighborhoods are the little dried out apples? You say they eat those bitter little orange berries off of the Mountain Ash? We made the mistake of bringing in some flowers off one of those things into the house one time and put em in a vase....shoulda smelled em first,in short order it smelled like a tom cat took a leak on our kitchen table!

But I digress....The only other kind of berries I see around the city are those black ones like on a buckthorn and those little low plants, Nightshade?

Then there are those bright red berries and at no time during the season do I ever see the birds eat those berries? They are there at the beginning and they are there at the end? Seems like every other type of berry ripens and falls off the plant? I guess there must be some types that I don't come across or know about that the birds eat?

[WDH]

Raisins, suet and peanuts. I make a mix of 50% millet and 50% peanut hearts and chips. The mix I spread around on the ground, the robins will eat the peanut hearts and chips and all your small ground feeding song birds the millet.

On a plateform feeder it's peanut kernels and raisins that have been soaked in water over night along with a suet block. The suet should not have any of that junk seed mixed in. This is a suet mix that I make up for my birds.

1 Cup Chunky Peanut Butter

2 Cups Cornmeal

2 Cups Quick Cook Oats

1 Cup Lard or Suet

1/3 Cup Sugar

1 Cup White Flour

1 cup of peanuts hearts chips or kernels

Preparation:

Melt lard/suet and peanut butter together and stir.

Stir the remaining ingredients.

Pour the mixture into a square container about 1-1/2 inches thick.

Allow it to cool, then cut it into squares and store in the freezer.

At times I add frozen meal worms and crickets to the mix. Take pork,beef and deer fat and trimeings run through a meat grinder to make hamburger-like worms. The fat worms I use on a ground feeder and only when the temps are below 32. I have had robins stay all winter eating all the above.