{"id":583,"date":"2011-02-14T15:04:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-14T15:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2011\/02\/first-signs-of-spring-robin-migration-at-seven-oaks.html"},"modified":"2026-01-28T15:11:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T20:11:03","slug":"first-signs-of-spring-robin-migration-at-seven-oaks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2011\/02\/first-signs-of-spring-robin-migration-at-seven-oaks.html","title":{"rendered":"First Signs of Spring: Robin Migration at Seven Oaks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"clear: both; text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<p>I usually take my first cup of coffee in the mornings into my plant room at the back of the house, which faces east and where I can watch the sun rise. There I sit for my morning prayers and meditation, and sometimes I just sit quietly and enjoy the peaceful green oasis in my little room.\u00a0 I&#8217;ve got 12 gigantic geraniums overwintering back there, a Wandering Jew plant my neighbor Joan gave me in the fall that looks like a striped Cousin It in the corner, and my Peace Lilies that are offspring of a giant Peace Lily I bought in 1994 when I worked at Martin Viette Nurseries. There&#8217;s my collection of African Violets too &#8211; purple for the most part, but one lone white one with double ruffled flower petals is blooming now, and what a treat. Don&#8217;t forget my bamboo trees in their big tubs or the tray of spider plants that enjoys a summer vacation on my front porch, either.<\/p>\n<p>So there I sat in the ugly old brown chair that&#8217;s so comfy because of its wear and tear, drinking a really good cup of coffee and watching sunlight sparkle through the little prism hanging in the window, and I noticed a lot of movement on the back lawn.\u00a0 The eastern-facing windows overlook the back deck, the fenced in vegetable garden, and a lot of scraggly lawn growing over the septic system.\u00a0 The movement was near the septic area, so I got up out of my chair and walked to the windows to take a look.<\/p>\n<p>I could hardly believe my eyes.\u00a0 There were robins &#8211; dozens of them &#8211; hopping about on the lawn. It&#8217;s a warm, windy day today, already in the high fifties, and the robins were the first I&#8217;ve seen all winter long.<\/p>\n<p>I stopped counting when I got up to 20, but more arrived, and they seemed to cover the back field.\u00a0 They must have been finding insects or perhaps insect larvae to eat today.\u00a0 I felt my whole mood lift at their cheerful countenance. There&#8217;s nothing like seeing the first robin of spring to believe that warm weather is just around the corner!<\/p>\n<p>I looked up the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bio.davidson.edu\/people\/vecase\/Behavior\/Spring2007\/Frohman\/Page02.html\">American Robin<\/a> today online and learned that they normally migrate right behind the Canadian geese in late February, and seem to sense the spring thaw.\u00a0 If that is true, they are about a week early, which I hope and pray means an early spring. We&#8217;ve been hearing a lot of Canadian geese lately, and saw one enormous flock flying north.\u00a0 I am hopeful that the cheerful American Robin knows more than the ugly Groundhogs that predict the weather and that spring is here at last!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I usually take my first cup of coffee in the mornings into my plant room at the back of the house, which faces east and where I can watch the sun rise. There I sit for my morning prayers and meditation, and sometimes I just sit quietly and enjoy the peaceful green oasis in my&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2011\/02\/first-signs-of-spring-robin-migration-at-seven-oaks.html\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"","tag":"","restrict_content":""},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1254],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-how-to-garden","7":"entry"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>First Signs of Spring: Robin Migration at Seven Oaks - Home Garden Joy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"First Signs of Spring: Robin Migration at Seven Oaks\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I usually take my first cup of coffee in the mornings into my plant room at the back of the house, which faces east and where I can watch the sun rise. There I sit for my morning prayers and meditation, and sometimes I just sit quietly and enjoy the peaceful green oasis in my...Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/homegardenjoy.com\/site\/2011\/02\/first-signs-of-spring-robin-migration-at-seven-oaks.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Home Garden Joy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sevenoaksgardening\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jeanne.grunert\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-02-14T15:04:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-28T20:11:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeanne\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@WriterGrunert\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@WriterGrunert\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2011\\\/02\\\/first-signs-of-spring-robin-migration-at-seven-oaks.html#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2011\\\/02\\\/first-signs-of-spring-robin-migration-at-seven-oaks.html\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jeanne\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a4a2d7c5e897228f42be953553e4140\"},\"headline\":\"First Signs of Spring: Robin Migration at Seven Oaks\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-14T15:04:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-28T20:11:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2011\\\/02\\\/first-signs-of-spring-robin-migration-at-seven-oaks.html\"},\"wordCount\":467,\"commentCount\":0,\"articleSection\":[\"How to Garden\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2011\\\/02\\\/first-signs-of-spring-robin-migration-at-seven-oaks.html#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2011\\\/02\\\/first-signs-of-spring-robin-migration-at-seven-oaks.html\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2011\\\/02\\\/first-signs-of-spring-robin-migration-at-seven-oaks.html\",\"name\":\"First Signs of Spring: Robin Migration at Seven Oaks - Home Garden Joy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-14T15:04:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-28T20:11:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a4a2d7c5e897228f42be953553e4140\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2011\\\/02\\\/first-signs-of-spring-robin-migration-at-seven-oaks.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2011\\\/02\\\/first-signs-of-spring-robin-migration-at-seven-oaks.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/2011\\\/02\\\/first-signs-of-spring-robin-migration-at-seven-oaks.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"First Signs of Spring: Robin Migration at Seven Oaks\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/\",\"name\":\"Home Garden Joy\",\"description\":\"Grow What Nourishes You\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/homegardenjoy.com\\\/site\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2a4a2d7c5e897228f42be953553e4140\",\"name\":\"Jeanne\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a00d7eb73461d2099498e814aff8b33f2ad508e1d0608cc28e4457e188352d5f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a00d7eb73461d2099498e814aff8b33f2ad508e1d0608cc28e4457e188352d5f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a00d7eb73461d2099498e814aff8b33f2ad508e1d0608cc28e4457e188352d5f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jeanne\"},\"description\":\"Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. 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