My winterberries still have leaves on them and the robins don't usually eat the fruit until late November and December when the leaves are down and there have been a few frosts.

However, the robins have already started checking on the berries and apparently deciding they're just not ripe yet.

I just looked back at my photos to see when the major feast times were and I found these:

October 30, 2012 - checking the berries

November 13, 2012 - still checking

December 23, 2008 - feasting

December 26, 2008 - three days later and most are gone

January 1, 2009 - a few left

This is pretty much the usual progression here in southeast MA. The berries never last through the winter.

Maybe your robins were desperate for food this year and ate berries that weren't really ready yet? Or did you have unusually cold weather this fall?

Claire

Wow, Claire, excellent pictures.
Good to know it is not so unusual. Interestingly, I have cranberry bush growing side by side with winterberries and it is loaded with bright red berries, but robins ignore cranberries.
Do robins stay in your area for the whole winter?

How interesting! Great pictures, too.

This spring I saw a female robin feed a service berry to a fledgeling. So much for the image of only eating worms.

I have a Viking Aronia bush in my backyard, still loaded with berries. Maybe the birds will try them again once they've been frozen/thawed a bit more.

vince

green_go: The robins stay around all winter but I don't see them very often. Mostly I see them at the heated birdbath on cold days, here on February 17, 2013.

And a week earlier on February 9, 2013

Besides the water they probably are eating leftover rose hips and cotoneaster berries and blackberries. I sometimes put out raisins hoping they'll take them but I don't watch that closely.

Claire

edit note: Looking closer, the last two photos on Feb. 9 were taken at a non-heated birdbath about ten feet away from the heated birdbath. This one I break the ice on and refill each day. It's rubber and I just turn it upside down and stomp on it. Last year I kept three birdbaths going through the winter - one heated and other two unheated but open.

This post was edited by claire on Mon, Nov 4, 13 at 17:59

Heated birdbath?!!! How does it work? I have never heard of heated birdbath before. Can you tell how it works?

There are lots of different kinds of heated birdbaths - you can get ones that sit on the ground or mount to a deck rail or are raised on a pedestal.

I think mine was from Duncraft but Amazon.com carries many different kinds. At the end of the season they're often on sale.

They have a short electric cord which is attached to a long extension cord and keep a low temperature just above freezing. I like to use a waterproof extension cord cover to protect the connection from sloppy wet conditions.

You can also get a non-electrified replacement dish for some of them so you can use the birdbath in the summer.

I love heated birdbaths - I see birds in the winter that never come to the feeders, for example Hermit Thrushes, and all of the birds depend on the regular water supply. It's a lot easier than breaking the ice every morning and pouring warm water into a bird bath. You still have to top off or replace the water but you don't have to get out really early or watch the desperate birds pecking at ice.

You can also get electric deicers that can be used in an existing bird bath.

Claire

I probably should mention that I can use a ground level heated birdbath because we don't get all that much snow here on the southeast MA coast. Most of the winter the ground is bare (except for unusual winters). We get really nasty winter winds, though.

If you get deep snow you'd need a raised bath (or do a lot of shoveling).

Claire

Claire- thanks for the photos- what a treat! My you do keep meticulous records on your birds...

Thanks, surya55. I just keep photographing and photographing and I label the keepers with the date. I file the photos mostly by species (robins, wrens, grackles, etc.). When I want to know when and which I just go back and check the dates on the photos.

Claire

Thank you for the information and for the pictures, Claire. Looking forward to see more photos of the birds.

Great winterberry/Robin pics Green and Claire!

From what I've read, Robins are partially migratory and will hang around areas where there little or no snow cover and berries and such.

I enjoy watching them, they're rather bossy and like to guard the bird baths and berries, but hopefully I've spread those around enough in the yard, so that they can't monopolize everything.