My pyracantha berries have been waiting since fall: the bush remains quite loaded with
food for the robins. But where have my customers been? Eric, of the
Bird Barn, noted five or six weeks ago that he had not seen the local robins as yet. Nor had I. Not until two days ago, when one showed up next the fence. All this has me wondering -- have our robins decided to spend the winter with all the other snow birds down in the Valley of Death? Have we had a big die off? Where have they been? Anyone have info or ideas? Should I just harvest the berries and
make jelly, forgetting the robins? But then at some point those berries are going to turn and I might be able to watch drunken late season robins stagger about before they sober up; that's what happens regularly in one friend's garden.
My pyracantha berries have been waiting since fall: the bush remains quite loaded with food for the robins. But where have my customers been? Eric, of the Bird Barn, noted five or six weeks ago that he had not seen the local robins as yet. Nor had I. Not until two days ago, when one showed up next the fence. All this has me wondering -- have our robins decided to spend the winter with all the other snow birds down in the Valley of Death? Have we had a big die off? Where have they been? Anyone have info or ideas? Should I just harvest the berries and make jelly, forgetting the robins? But then at some point those berries are going to turn and I might be able to watch drunken late season robins stagger about before they sober up; that's what happens regularly in one friend's garden.
Great robin picture, GJ!
ReplyDeleteHow curious! Drunken robins would be funny to see.
ReplyDeleteCat-A -- I have to admit that I cheated a little -- took that pic last year. I didn't have a camera handy when I spotted this year's robin (note, singular noun).
ReplyDeletemeggie -- the friend is convinced that it's the same robin that shows up time and again. He figures that this particular robin has A Problem.
Nice blog--lotsa words and I like words. I cannot get your pictures to open. I will look again when my computer (or is it me) is not so tired. Thanks for visiting my small city blog. MB
ReplyDeleteMB -- Curious -- I don't remember visiting your blog, and I would have, because it is memorable! Good subject matter for a picture blog -- churches. I've had a couple of posts in mind re: local churches, including new uses for yesterday's churches. OK, sorry -- I had a hunch & just checked it out. I visited your new picture blog thanks to SnS, but didn't make it to Holy Houses.
ReplyDeleteThe little robin looks lovely. We have them over here, too. They are rather shy, though, don't like to be photographed.
ReplyDeletegth -- I wouldn't call American robins shy, exactly. What they do is keep their distance. The picture was one of my first taken with the 12X zoom on my Canon.
ReplyDeletePyracantha jelly??? I never heard of such a thing. Perhaps a bit like rowanberry, which is very Scottish, but my sister made some once and said it was rather horrid.
ReplyDeleteLeave 'em to the robins, I think. The blackbirds strip ours here.
lucy -- I'm not likely to be making jelly any time soon, so the berries are there for the robins if any return. I've not seen any more as of this date. A very Arizona kind of thing, BTW, is jelly made from prickly pear tunas; we tried it once & found that it was pretty bland in flavor.
ReplyDelete