Do robins still fly south in the winter and return north as an early sign of spring in North America?
My husband says no. He says they stay in place now in the Northeast, hanging out with grackles.
I saw a robin yesterday in New Jersey, and said ‘Ah ha! This wretched winter will one day be over - there is the first sign of spring.’ My husband said ‘Nope.’
This isn’t a scientific answer, just my personal experience but I’d say no.
I live in Michigan and I usually notice every spring when there are suddenly a lot more robins around.
Although IIRC, any bird will stay put if they have a food source. My parents never leave bird feeders out during the winter so that the birds won’t be tempted to stay put.
Since robins live primarily on worms, they can’t very well survive the winter in places where it snows, or where the ground freezes.
If they stay around in a cold environment, they’d have to change their diets significantly. A grackle can and will eat just about ANYTHING, so the weather doesn’t bother it much. But a robin isn’t so omnivorous.
Michigan, here as well. Robbins definitely still return in the spring and are conspicuously absent in winter. Whether or not they still migrate their entire range, I couldn’t tell you.
I suspect that more robins are overwintering in the Northeastern U.S. than before, due both to climate change and the greater availability of planted fruit trees than before.
I live in the SE USA – one of those states you are embarassed to claim to live in. Anyway, we usually don;t see many Robins, however the friday before last we had SCADS of robins drop by. At the university that I work, there were maybe 1 every 3 or so square meters of grass. The next day they were gone (north I presume)