My mother, born & raised in the far NE tip of Minnesota in the small town of Ely, loved robins. They were harbingers of Spring, a symbol of hope, a sign that better days were soon to come. Folks in her hometown would contact the local newspaper to report their sightings and could get their name in the paper if they were the one to spot the very first robin of spring.
My mom was never reconciled to living in the tropical climes of Miami where I grew up. She was an avid nature watcher and instilled that passion in me & my brother. She missed seeing robins bob-bob-bobbin' in her yard, but there was usually one day each year that provided some compensation.
Here across South Florida there is an invasive exotic called the Brazillian Pepper, or Florida Holly. It usually grows as a very large shrub, was introduced as a fast-growing windbreak and has since spread like an unpleasant rash. My dad had planted one in our back yard, probably because someone told him it was an easy thing to grow. For all the bad reputation Florida Holly has & deserves, this one tree was an exception. My dad trimmed & trained it to grow as a thick-trunked many-branched tree, and my brother & I grew up climbing all over it.
The only other benefit Florida Holly provides is that it produces an enormous abundance of red berries that feed both native & migrating birds. Flocks of robins travelling back to their homes in the North are some of the birds that seem to relish these berries the most. Almost every year while growing up in Miami there would be just one day when my mother could get her fill of seeing robins. A flock of several hundred would descend on our tree and spend the day feasting on the berries. Our native mockingbirds would scold & fuss but there was no chasing them away. I have heard that birds can get slightly intoxicated by eating these berries, so I imagine these robins were having themselves quite a rockin' robin party. The robins would be gone by the next day, flying with tiny ice bags pressed to their throbbing heads, or so we guessed.
Now I live north of Miami in western West Palm Beach. I enjoy seeing the different birds that migrate through, the warblers, the painted buntings, and especially the robins. Some years they appear in smaller groups over a period of a few weeks. But yesterday there was a huge flock all together in the Florida Hollys that edge my property, having themselves a good ol' fashioned rockin' robin party. I made sure to call my children outside to see them.
My mom was never reconciled to living in the tropical climes of Miami where I grew up. She was an avid nature watcher and instilled that passion in me & my brother. She missed seeing robins bob-bob-bobbin' in her yard, but there was usually one day each year that provided some compensation.
Here across South Florida there is an invasive exotic called the Brazillian Pepper, or Florida Holly. It usually grows as a very large shrub, was introduced as a fast-growing windbreak and has since spread like an unpleasant rash. My dad had planted one in our back yard, probably because someone told him it was an easy thing to grow. For all the bad reputation Florida Holly has & deserves, this one tree was an exception. My dad trimmed & trained it to grow as a thick-trunked many-branched tree, and my brother & I grew up climbing all over it.
The only other benefit Florida Holly provides is that it produces an enormous abundance of red berries that feed both native & migrating birds. Flocks of robins travelling back to their homes in the North are some of the birds that seem to relish these berries the most. Almost every year while growing up in Miami there would be just one day when my mother could get her fill of seeing robins. A flock of several hundred would descend on our tree and spend the day feasting on the berries. Our native mockingbirds would scold & fuss but there was no chasing them away. I have heard that birds can get slightly intoxicated by eating these berries, so I imagine these robins were having themselves quite a rockin' robin party. The robins would be gone by the next day, flying with tiny ice bags pressed to their throbbing heads, or so we guessed.
Now I live north of Miami in western West Palm Beach. I enjoy seeing the different birds that migrate through, the warblers, the painted buntings, and especially the robins. Some years they appear in smaller groups over a period of a few weeks. But yesterday there was a huge flock all together in the Florida Hollys that edge my property, having themselves a good ol' fashioned rockin' robin party. I made sure to call my children outside to see them.
