A robin is a robin?

A robin is a robin? Earl Plato

It was 6:30 a.m. at a church retreat on the lower Bruce Peninsula. Morning walk time in cold conditions. All alone at this most quiet time of the day. Ahead of me the sun was rising blinding me as I walked the road eastwards. Frost had covered the grassy fields. Then I heard them. Robins and more robins. This time of the year? I shaded my eyes and there in the spruces were at least twelve darker- backed robins. Was this a nature anomaly? Nature writer, Ed Teale, experienced my same scenario at his Massachusetts rural home. Here is part of Teale’s description on that October 29th years ago.
“Half a hundred of these darker-backed red-breasted robins are running - with characteristic stops and starts. ... they are the last of the migrating robins calling excitedly, landing and taking off.” Summer’s over and Fall has arrived.
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Here is a last flashback to warmer days. Memories of the John James Audubon historic house west of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania are still fresh to me. Daughter, Diane, and I had a half day while her husband, John, was at a conference in the city. North of the house in which Audubon had done much of his famous paintings of birds was a bubbling brook. Someone had placed stepping stones across the thirty foot wide stream. Convenient, for now after you tiptoed across you were among flowering shrubs and the multitude of songbirds. I recognized the melodious songs of the Baltimore orioles. Warblers galore but I knew only a few of their calls. What a glorious day to enjoy this great natural setting. Thank goodness for my camcorder for we have a lasting record. Take a little time to enjoy the past in nature. Recall those gems of the outdoors. Appreciate the work of the Creator, then search out new nature gems.