Time Flies

 

This morning I saw robins on the left bank.  Last February, some robins surprised me in our driveway.  I had never seen them in deep of winter before.  It turns out some robins, males more than females, tend to winter as far north as Ontario.  As I watched, a handful of redbreasts flurried back and forth from the water's edge to low hanging trees.  In the few inches of rocky shallows, the robins submerged themselves nearly to their necks and fluttered.  

Here is another answer to the question I pose to the Ottauquechee, "What is it like for you?"  The stream answers, "I am a bird bath."

Enjoying the pond-still water, were these robins washing up for a trip south, or just taking advantage of  the unseasonable 60 degrees to do some personal hygiene?  Then I noticed a male cardinal doing the same thing, more conspicuous with his brighter red, and nearby, not bathing, strode a cardinal female hopping among the rocks.  A grackle showed up as well, so three or four birds, each a few feet from one another, splashed around, as if they had all the time in the world.