Robins | wordsfromanneli

August 13, 2025
by wordsfromanneli 23 Comments

Mountain Ash and Holly

As I wrote the title to this post, I thought it might be misleading, with all the local wildfires making ashes of some of our “mountains,” but it is the tree that I am referring to in this post.

Each spring, the mountain ash gets clusters of little white flowers. Later in the summer, those flowers turn into red berries that will supply food for birds that are still here in the late autumn. It’s a time of year when the birds are trying to get the last of the summer’s bounty to build up their strength to meet the coming winter, or to make any lengthy flights they might have planned.

On one of those cool autumn days, the flocks (usually robins) will come and occupy the tree like so many shivering ornaments on a Christmas tree. They gobble down as many of these berries as they can. Sometimes it is already late in the fall and the berries are getting a bit overripe. The birds have been known to get a bit tipsy from eating the wine-like berries. Beware the windows nearby, little birds, when you can’t fly straight.

They also visit the holly trees for their berries, but they eat more carefully. Holly leaves can be prickly.

Mountain ash and holly,

They make a late snack jolly,

But berries that ferment,

Can cause flights to be bent.

July 1, 2025
by wordsfromanneli 31 Comments

Bath Time for Young Robins

Roberta Robin wonders if it’s a good time to have a bath.

“How do you think the water is?” she asks her brother Ricky.

“Lukewarm,” he says. So Roberta jumps in.

“Brrr!” Roberta shivers as her downy breast feathers mat together. “I thought you said it was lukewarm,” she scolds.

Ricky shrugs. “Look warm to me.”

May 15, 2025
by wordsfromanneli 34 Comments

Dogwood

The dogwood has been B.C.’s provincial flower since 1956.

I’m trying to teach this bird some tricks–

The petal count for blossoms.

Though some have four, some five, some six,

The difficulty’s awesome.

Provincial flower of B.C.,

I am in fact a tree,

My flowers bloom for all to see,

I glow with majesty.

May 10, 2025
by wordsfromanneli 23 Comments

Robin

I’m robbin’ as a robin should,

I take what I can get,

The garden grubs and earthworms could,

Be finest dinners yet.

March 31, 2025
by wordsfromanneli 32 Comments

Lunchtime

Hoo-whee! These fir cones are like a candy cane. So good!

Oh! Sorry. That was rude of me. Would you like to share this one?

These cones come in little wings that you can peel off. I’ll get one for you.

What’s that? Not your kind of food? Oh, too bad. I’ll get back to it then.

Say, if you really want to see me in action, play the video. Be sure to turn up the sound so you can hear the robins singing their spring songs.

February 28, 2025
by wordsfromanneli 37 Comments

Late Season Snack

Thank you for hanging in there through the whole month of February for my daily photo and haiku. I’ll go back to posting less often now, unless I come up with another crazy idea.

robin guards his food

perched amid his dinner plate

Russian olive snack

October 31, 2024
by wordsfromanneli 48 Comments

And so it Begins

Robbie Robin thinks of spring,

And the bounty it can bring,

In the lower elevation,

Life was like a long vacation.

Summer berries in the hills,

How delicious were these frills,

In the forests by the streams,

Food enough to fill his dreams.

Ah, but what’s that ridge of white?

Yes, it is a pretty sight,

But it means the days are chill,

And he must come off the hill.

Food is scarce, the bugs are gone,

Must be time for moving on,

Back to lower, warmer climes,

And a few more happy times.

See my friends around my table,

Eating much as we are able,

Mountain ash is loaded full,

Grab the berries and just pull.

Oh, my heavens, see the snow,

I knew I was right to go,

One more feast on berries here,

Then I’ll say, “Goodbye, my dear.”

May 9, 2024
by wordsfromanneli 45 Comments

It’s Dogwood Time

It’s time for the dogwoods to bloom. There are many bigger dogwood trees around, but ours is still quite small.

The robin is enjoying the spring morning sunshine while he wonders about the petal count of these flowers.

Most flowers have a number of petals that fall into the Fibonacci sequence, a mathematical sequence in which each number is the sum of the two preceding ones. So it goes like this: 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144 … and it goes on forever.

Our Pacific dogwood usually has between four and six petals, so it’s different from most flowers which tend to follow the Fibonacci sequence.

Next time you’re in a flower garden, see which flowers you can find that have either 3, 5, 8, 13, or 21 petals. You’ll be surprised at what you find.

*Fibonacci sequence was used and further explored by an Italian mathematician, Leonardo Bonacci, who was called Fibonacci, possibly as a name made up from “filius Bonacci” (son of Bonacci). He was born about 1170. Yes, about 850+ years ago.

I bet he loved doing puzzles or writing code.

So what’s the next number after 144? The first nine commenters got it easily, so how about the next three numbers?

May 1, 2024
by wordsfromanneli 49 Comments

It’s Just Lunch

This is a post I did ten years ago, but I was reminded of it this morning when I heard the unmistakable DEE-di-di-di-di of a merlin in our nearby wooded area.

Warning: This is from a sad but true story that happened in my own yard back then (ten years ago).

The songbirds always let it be known when there’s a killer in their midst, be it a cat, a raccoon, a hawk, or a crow. Today, it seems that every bird in my little acre was shrieking with alarm — not just the usual robin whose nest was threatened, but the chickadees, nuthatches, and many others as well. When all the birds sing happy songs, it’s background music, but when they sound like several fire alarms going off, something is wrong. I went out onto the deck to have a look.

In the tall firs next to the house, many songbirds were divebombing a predator who sat and watched from her perch on a dead broken branch. I ran back into the house for my camera. The merlin (a small falcon) didn’t seem to care about me being there. She was either a juvenile or brazen or both. However it was, she allowed me to take many pictures, even posing a bit.

She ruffled her feathers, being Mrs. Cool. I’m not afraid of you!

The songbirds set up the alarm in the whole mini forest around my yard. A chickadee and a nuthatch, both tiny birds who are often chosen by the falcons as appetizers, bravely sat on the branch directly behind the merlin, scolding her.

The merlin merely gave them a look that said, “Who? Me?”

Then she looked down at the ground to see if her lunch was still there. I suspected she had done something because she had blood on her hands … er … beak.

“Yes, it was me,” she said. “I’m not proud of myself.”

She shrugged her shoulders. “It’s just lunch.”

My little puppy, Emma, found the falcon’s intended lunch, lying on the ground below the tree. A juvenile red-shafted northern flicker, one of my favourite birds in this area.

I was choked. I don’t want to hear another person say a word about “Mother Nature.” There is nothing “motherly” about nature. As beautiful as nature is, it is also very cruel when we apply our human values to it. But that’s how it has to be.

And I do think the falcon was sorry.

I waved my arms but the falcon didn’t want to fly away. It was only when I opened the big patio umbrella that she flew off. The songbirds settled down and silence hung in the air.

When I picked up the flicker, a single tail feather fell to the ground and as I walked away, I heard one lonely bird calling. It had to be the mother giving one last quavery call to say an anguished goodbye to her baby.