A Lovely Spring Day in Sparrow-Fart

[RJM62]

Actually, I'm not complaining. April snowstorms have the potential to be a lot worse.

The robins, though, were not happy. I overheard a heated conversation between one female and her mate that went something like this:

She: "You NEVER listen! I told you we should have waited a week longer before going back North."

He: "I wanted to beat the rush, honey, and get here before all the good nesting materials were taken."

She: "Yeah, you just HAD to be the first one back. It's always a contest with you guys. In the meantime, there's not a worm in the county that's not buried under a foot of snow."

He: "Well, how was I supposed to know that it would snow in April? If we'd waited, you'd be complaining that the old clothes that that bearded guy leaves out for us were taken already! You complained about the neighbor birds getting that old red union suit for MONTHS last year!"

She: "You're always blaming me! You could have stopped and asked along the way! But no, not you. You just HAD TO do it your own way. Heaven forbid you should ask! Now we're sitting here starving!"​

I started to feel a bit embarrassed listening in on what was obviously a very private discussion, so I took a ride down to the Sparrow Fart Diner, Courthouse, and Bait Shop, bought some worms, brought them back, and set them out for the robins. They didn't say anything -- they never do when they know you're listening -- but I'm sure they were grateful for the meal.

Rich

 

[Ghery]

Or, they could have come South for spring break. It's really nice in Cancun this week.

 

[RJM62]

It's kind of funny. Robins are very tuned into finding food, and I guess they associated me with the worms pretty quickly.

A lot of the snow has melted, so there are now patches of earth where the robins are able to find worms. But a few of them flew right over to me when I went outside to install the stainless steel frames I ordered a while ago on my license plates.

I had all the various hardware bits in a cup on the ground next to me, and every time I reached down for one of them, the robins cocked their heads and looked where my hand had been, no doubt expecting to find that I'd set out another worm for them.

They grumbled a bit each time when they found only screws and the like rather than plump, juicy night crawlers. But they didn't leave until I'd finished the job and went inside, at which time they went back to their more customary method of gathering worms.

I was a bit annoyed that my kindness in what was an emergency situation (if you're a robin, anyway) had engendered an entitlement mentality in some of the robins. I half expected them to ask me to take a run down to the Sparrow-Fart Diner, Courthouse, and Bait Shop to buy them some more night crawlers. But they didn't. They held their silence -- at least while I was in earshot.

When I went back inside, however, one of the robins complained loudly to another that I hadn't set out any worms today. Much to my surprise, the second robin shouted at the first that he really needed to stop his complaining and get to work finding some worms.

It did my heart good to know that some robins, at least, aren't afraid of hard work.

Rich