Robins have always been harbingers of spring for me - I was taught this somewhere along the line, and had added my own theory which was, the more I saw, the faster spring would arrive. It's what has kept me sane during the final obstacle called March all of these years.
Spring was certainly going to be early this year for sure - I saw so many. Unfortunately, and based on info gleaned from the internet plus what I witnessed this winter, robins aren't harbingers of spring because duh, they hang around year round.
Up here on the hill, and I have never seen this before, there has been a street gang of 25 or so robins
flitting around the neighborhood all winter. They were startling to see with their bright orange breasts in an
otherwise bland and bleached winter landscape a city can be. They reminded me of the older and
enlarged Henry VIII, a little arrogant the way they puffed up their
chests (to stay warm in this case, I later learned) over their twig-like legs.
While robins no longer represent harbingers of spring for me, they will become instead, a reminder of spring's inevitable, determined and colorful arrival in the face of all that seems otherwise.
Royal Robin • 8" X 8" framed to 12" X 12" • $200