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during winter months near wooded, sheltered areas that may have an underground spring nearby. The birds can sometimes find worms around these warm springs.
But what are they eating when a spring cannot be found or the ground is frozen and they can't get worms? Robins in winter are mainly fruit eaters and depend on them during winter freezes. Some fruits are so sweet and juicy in summer that birds and other wildlife eat them right away. The best winterberries are \ those that start out tasting too bitter to eat, and after freezing and thawing several times become tastier.
Growing a winter fruit garden is a wonderful way to make life easier for wintering robins. Some of the best varieties to plant include bayberry, sumac, mountain ash, crabapple and chokecherry.
Robins seem to need more drinking water than many other songbirds. They readily use birdbaths all summer, and many robins recognize what birdbaths look like.
When they spot a birdbath in winter, they usually check it out. So heated birdbaths are both attractive to them and very helpful. Several types of birdbath heaters can be found at your local bird supply stores.
Some people have figured out ways to entice robins to feeders.
Robins virtually never eat birdseed because their stomach and intestines are not designed to digest them. But they have come to feeders for sliced apples, pears, oranges, grapes and raisins. Most robins never explore their winter areas for human handouts, one way to help robins discover a winter feeder is by placing it near a birdbath.
Happy Birding!
Flint Hill bird watcher Jim Bywaters welcomes reader mail, responses, suggestions, P.O. Box 8, Flint Hill, Va. 22627.
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