Robins are one of my favourite creatures.
Their enthusiastic chirps are so interesting and the red chests so colourful.
For years we have watched the robins flitting around in our back yard, sitting in the garden, especially after watering to listen for worms near the surface.
The birds seem to understand we mean them no harm, even responding to my partner’s low chirps and soothing talk by cautiously coming closer.
This year the robins in our back yard almost became the equivalent of pests. Let me explain.
About 13 years ago, I planted a tiny sour cherry tree in part of our garden.
For three years there was nothing, just a bit of growth. The next three years saw a few berries come from the multiple blossoms.
The blossoms were pretty and bountiful but high winds in the next few years blew most of them away before they could mature into berries.
One year I read about pruning and did that task, being careful not to prune more than 20 per cent of the branches.
The following year few berries were produced.
Then the tree started to produce lots of berries. Now it has grown out of the five-foot square I had allocated. Branches are hanging out over the lawn and garden.
I love to eat those cherries off the tree, or freeze them for a winter morning breakfast treat.
This is where the pesky robins come into play.
They love sour cherries too and are above stealing them.
Until this year, they haven’t seemed to bother the berry tree. Early in July just as the berries started turning red, the robins attacked them with fervour.
One afternoon when I was sitting out back, one of them hopped on the tree and took a berry, then sang loudly as if to tell all the other robins in the neighbourhood about this new source of tasty food.
I shooed the darn robin away. It merely hopped to a higher branch, staring with that come-and-get-me look.
Then it grabbed another red berry and flew off, berry in beak, like it had just won a jackpot at the casino.
Just before I picked the ripened berries, I noticed a robin sitting on a lower branch of the cherry tree. I shooed it off, but it just dropped to the ground and sat there. Looking closer, I realized it was a baby just out of the nest and not yet flying.
My partner and I watched as it eventually ran off to a spot beside the house then disappeared. We hoped it didn’t get caught by a cat.
Now I realize why the robins raided the cherry tree. It was to feed the babies.
I hope the babies all made it for the flight down south but please stay away from my cherries next year.
I waited too many years for fruit to share with the robins.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
