2014: AND I CONSIDERED MYSELF AN AMTEUR ORNATHOLOGIST

I remember when I was a boy, how Mom Glover used to treasure the arrival of the W. Atlee Burpee spring seed catalog. Mom Glover had one of the more beautiful gardens in our neighborhood and really loved receiving that annual spring catalog with all its lovely flower seeds for sale. I remember how she considered the Burpee catalog one of the two "harbingers of spring." The other was the welcome sight of a Robin or two scampering in our yard. Back then in our Kuser Farm neighborhood, one seldom saw a Robin until at least as early as March. I didn't know it at the time, I was told that the Robins wintered in the South Jersey Pines, and the arrival in March was considered the aforementioned "harbinger" label. Well, a quick Google search which was not available in my electronically challenged youth, finds that Robins do indeed winter in central Jersey and those with berry bearing trees and bushes were the ones who apparently enjoyed the uplifting experience of seeing them in their yard. The photo above was taken just a few days ago when I witnessed what I estimated at 160 or more of the beautiful birds flocking to the 50 year old Holly tree in my front yard and also on my bayberry hedge. This morning they were gone and so were the holly berries on my Holly tree. Unlike my youthful years when I loved snow winters, I have found that as I age,  I am waiting with bated breath for the arrival of the 2015 spring season. The Robins are now gone from my yard and the true harbingers of spring won't be back until March, 2015.