Robins

For a few days early this week a group of about forty robins (that's "American robins") were flying around our neighbourhood, travelling southwest in the morning and coming back to the northeast in the afternoon. With each passover, a few would drop out of the fluttery flock and hang out for an hour in our yard where there are dogberries galore (American mountain ash) and a few apples. The robins like both.

Here, on their way back in the afternoon a couple of days ago, they perched high up in a neighbouring tree to rest in the scant sun.

Every year, a few robins hang out around here through the winter, but it is rare to see this many together much later than now. Any day now (maybe yesterday or today when we were not around) they'll join some larger groups and plunge into the southward migration.