Never Mind The Forecast--Spring Is Here!

[JIvers]

I had this visitor at my bird feeders in Johnson County, Iowa (southeast part of the state) this morning:

This is the first holdover robin I've seen this winter; we do have a lone mourning dove that has been hanging around for the last couple months.

I've read that the robins one sometimes sees in the Midwest during the winter are from farther north, and stopped on their migration south during mild weather. Then they're stranded when normal winter conditions return.

A few winters ago, during one of the warm December years, a bunch of robins got stuck here once the weather turned cold in January. I used to see ten or more robins clustering around a female gingko tree on bitterly cold days, fighting with other birds for the berries.

[Dotch]

Interesting. We're roughly 3 hrs. north of Johnson Co. There were robins flying around our place yesterday morning when we went out to do the chores. Hadn't seen any since November. Plenty of berries and crabapples here for them so that may have had something to do with it. Mourning doves have been on and off.

[minky]

Didn't know robins would hold over like that.

I am always glad to see them in the spring.