-----Original Message----- From: Ohio birds on behalf of TUCKER, Casey Sent: Thu 2/8/07 5:22 PM To: [log in to unmask] Subject: [Ohio-birds] Robins in Winter Typically, a resident male will try to last through the winter and defend one of these bushes from other over-wintering frugivores like mockingbirds and Robins from further north. It's thought that these males are trying to protect a food source for their own use during the winter, but also a source of food that may attract females when they return during the spring. This, in turn, may help the male find a mate. ????????? I understood everything up to the return of the females in spring. Would a migratory female just back from the sunny southlands have any interest in the remaining berries on an ornamental shrub? Or would she be looking for earthworms, which she had presumably been eating all winter in a place where the ground does not freeze? Or do robins eat berries in the winter throughout the continent? Is the dietary switch from worms to berries triggered by their inability to catch worms in frozen ground, by minimum temperatures staying below freezing for some length of time, by daylength, by the chemicals (alcohol?) in fermented and/or frozen berries making them more attractive than before, or by some other environmental change? Trying to think like a bird, I had always figured robins ate worms for as long as they could, and then switched reluctantly to berries out of desperation, but this discussion has started me wondering. Bob Barrett Fairlawn, Summit County ______________________________________________________________________ Ohio-birds mailing list, a service of the Ohio Ornithological Society. Our thanks to Miami University for hosting this mailing list. Additional discussions can be found in our forums, at www.ohiobirds.org/forum/. You can join or leave the list, or change your options, at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/scripts/wa.exe?LIST=OHIO-BIRDS Send questions or comments about the list to: [log in to unmask]